TPCASTT – “My Number” by Billy Collins
TPCASTT: Poem Analysis Method: title, paraphrase, connotation, diction, attitude, tone, shift(s), title revisited
and theme
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Without reading the poem, the title “My Number” could have a ridiculous amount of meanings. It could
be a telephone number, or counting a number of something – maybe family members or animals outside
of a house. It could be a number of reasons for doing something, or a number of thoughts regarding a
certain situation.
The first stanza states (in paraphrased form): “Is Death far away from this home, taking away someone in
mourning from the city of Cincinnati, or taking away the lost soul of a walker out in British Columbia?”
The second stanza states (in paraphrased form): “Is Death too busy ruining the brakes on peoples’ cars,
giving people cancer, and rotting away roller coasters to give notice to my unnoticeable home?” The third
stanza states (in paraphrased form: “Or instead is Death getting out of a car at the end of my street, with
its familiar black cloak, taking his weapon out of the back of his car?” The last two lines paraphrased
state: “Was it hard to get here? I will ask as I attempt to talk my way out of this fate.”
Most of the words in this poem have a negative connotation to them, giving the poem an overall sense of
uneasiness and dread. Line 3 states: “or breathing down the neck of a lost hiker,” and ‘breathing down
the neck’ is a phrase that would evoke anxiety from a reader. It is a phrase that one can relate to when in
sheer terror – to have something breathing down one’s neck is certainly something that one would not
want from something that they are fearing. In the second stanza, the feeling of terror rises with phrases
such as “scattering cancer cells like seeds” (line 7). Cancer is something that many people are terrified in
our society, it being a deathly incurable disease. The thought of it spreading as, in comparison, a
dandelion does, is a thought that would cause many people to be fearful. In the third stanza, phrases such
as “black car” (line 11) and “dark end of the lane” (line 12) are both phrases with negative connotation
and things that evoke dread. “Black car” personifies Death, making it something human and in
comparing it to our own species causes it to be more terrifying, as it if it something that can just blend in
and come at us at any moment.
The attitude of the speaker seems to be one of doom and dread – he is wondering if Death is close to him
or off in the distance, and dreads his arrival, as is displayed in the last two lines: “Did you have trouble
with directions? I will ask, as I start talking my way out of this.” These two lines show that the speaker is
not ready for death and certainly does not welcome it, and that he will do everything possible to avoid it
when the time comes. Death seems to be something that the speaker fears but also thinks is something he
may be able to avoid.
There is not really a shift in this poem – the entire thing really has an overall feeling of impending doom to
it. In the middle of the poem, after line 10 where the speaker begins to wonder if Death is actually at his
doorstep rather than far away, the feeling of uneasiness and fear increases.
After reading the poem and understanding its subject matter, I think that the title “My Number” could be
addressing one of two things. “My Number” could be the number of years that the speaker has left in his
life – he is wondering how long his number of years in this life will last. Another meaning for the title
could be the speaker’s house number – he is wondering if Death has found his address, and how long it
will take for him to arrive there.
The theme in this poem is death, and the author’s purpose is –especially in his personification of Death –
to display just how close death can be at any moment and how it can catch a person by surprise – one
could get lost and freeze to death while hiking, or have a break failure. Regardless of age, death could
catch a person at any time. This poem displays one person’s dread at the realization of this.