TOASTTT Strategy for Poetry Analysis
T
Title
Consider the title and what it could mean for the poem. What
do you think the poem is about based on the title?
O
Own Words
In your own words, paraphrase the poem is about. Consider who is
speaking, who is being spoken to, and whether there is an occasion
for the poem.
A
Analyze poetic
devices
Note poetic devices like imagery, figures of speech like similes,
metaphors, personification, and symbols. Also note sound devices
like alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, and rhyme
S
Shifts
Identify shifts (changes) in perspective by looking for key words
(but, yet, however, although), stanza divisions, and changes in line
or stanza length
T
Tone
LIDDS – language, images, details, diction, sentence
structure (helps to assess the author’s attitude, as well as the
mood created by the reader)
T
Title (again)
Consider the title again. What does it now reveal about the
poem?
T
Theme
What is the human experience or condition put forth by the
poem? Consider what is taking place.
TOASTTT – My Papa’s Waltz
T - Title
My Papa’s Waltz
My thoughts on the title…
4 The title implies that the
narrator will reflect on a
dance, waltz, that either his
or her father or grandfather
does. Perhaps this dance is
special because it is a fond
childhood memory.
Own Words – My Papa’s Waltz
Stanza 1
The whiskey on your
breath
Could make a small boy
dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not
easy.
4 Regardless of the
whiskey smell of
papa’s breath, the
speaker hung on and
danced along.
Own Words – My Papa’s Waltz
Stanza 2
The dance was rowdy
and playful, so much
We romped until the pans
so that they rattled the
Slid from the kitchen
pans.
shelf;
The
mother,
however,
My mother’s countenance
was unhappy about the
Could not unfrown itself.
scene in her kitchen.
Own Words – My Papa’s Waltz
Stanza 3
The hand that held my
wrist
Was battered on one
knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a
buckle.
4 As the father and child
danced hand in hand,
the child noticed that
the father’s hand was
worn (probably by
hard work or living);
when the father
stumbled, the child’s
ear hit the father’s belt
buckle.
Own Words – My Papa’s Waltz
Stanza 4
You beat time on my
head
With a palm caked by
dirt,
Then waltzed me off to
bed
Still clinging to your
shirt.
4 As they danced, the
father, who had not
cleaned up after work
(or going out to a bar),
kept a beat by tapping
the child’s head; they
danced, regardless of
physical difficulty, all
the way to the child’s
bedroom.
Analyze Poetic Devices
4 Sensory images are
used throughout the
poem to bring reality
to the scene and to
reveal the loving
relationship between
father and child.
4 Smell – “whiskey on your
breath”
4 Sight – “unfrown,”
“hand…battered on one
knuckle,” “palm caked by
dirt”
4 Touch – “hung on like
death,” “hand held wrist,”
“right ear scraped buckle,”
“beat time on head,”
“clinging to your shirt.”
Analyze Poetic Devices (cont.)
4 Rhyme Scheme – This
poem has an ABAB
rhyme scheme; stanza
1 – breath, dizzy,
death, easy.
4 Simile – “hung on like
death”
Dizzy and easy are
examples of slant or
near rhyme.
This simile shows the tight
grip the child had so that
he and his father could
dance. The emphasis is on
the importance of the
ritual and relationship.
Shifts
4 While there is no
distinct shift in attitude
in the poem, there is a
change in the child’s
attitude about his
mother and father. He
excuses his father’s
tipsy state while he
disapproves of his
mother’s frown.
4 He “hung on like
death” until they
“waltzed off to bed”
which shows a bond,
while he views his
mother more harshly
by stating “mother’s
countenance could not
unfrown itself.”
Shifts (cont.)
4 There are four stanzas
in this “My Papa’s
Waltz” each
containing four lines.
Tone
4 Language and images
show a sense of
tenderness and love
between father and
child; however, the
images for some might
be troubling since the
father is clearly drunk
which in reality could
have been painful.
4 “hung on,” “clinging
to,” “we romped”
4 “whiskey on breath”,”
“every step you
missed,” “ear scraped
buckle”
Tone (cont.)
4 The author’s attitude
is one of love for his
father. It is obvious
that he enjoys this
playful ritual.
4 Sentence Structure and
rhythm – there is a
playful, steady rhythm
that makes this poem
enjoyable.
4 “beat time on my
head,” “romped until
the pans slid from the
kitchen shelf”
Title (again)
4 The word “My” in My Papa’s Waltz stands
out after reading the poem. The child is
proud of his dad and the bond that they
have.
4 My initial thoughts on the title were
relatively accurate in that I predicted that
this would be about a special dance between
father and child.
Theme
4 The universal theme of this poem could be
that parent and child bonds are important
and create lasting memories.