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Poetry Analysis
English I
* Reading strategy used to analyze a poetic text
* Allows the reader to decipher meaning from a
poet’s work
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* T = Title
* P = Paraphrase
* C = Connotation
* A = Attitude
* S = Shift
* T = Title…again
* T = Theme
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* When analyzing a
poem, one should
examine each of the
components outlined
with TP-CASTT
…starting with the first
“T” to the last.
* With the poem “Passage” by John M. Roderick,
use the TP-CASTT strategy to decipher meaning
from the poem
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*Before you read the poem…
*Make a prediction: What do you think
the title “Passage” means?
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* Translate the poem in your own words. What is
the poem about? Rephrase the difficult sections
word for word.
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* Look beyond the literal meaning of key words
and images to their associations.
* Identify the use of poetic devices and consider
how they effect meaning in the poem.
* For “Passage”, look for diction, imagery, and
sound devices (alliteration and onomatopoeia)
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* What is the speaker’s attitude?
* What is the poet’s attitude?
SPEAKER AND POET
ARE DIFFERENT!
* How does the poet feel about the speaker,
about the characters, about the subject?
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* Where do shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc.
occur? (Look for time and place, keywords,
punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in
length or rhyme, and sentence structure.)
* What is the purpose of each shift?
* How does the shift effect the meaning of the
poem?
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* Reexamine the title. What do you think it
means now in the context of the poem?
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* What is the overall theme of the poem.
* THE THEME MUST BE WRITTEN IN A COMPLETE
SENTENCE. Theme is a message or complete
thought…NOT just one word!
THEME = LOVE
LOVE IS BLIND = THEME
* Theme does not have to be a cliché. It is the
writer’s message to the reader. What does he/she
want the reader to know/learn/think?
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