Poetry Analysis Using TPSFASTT

1. Poetry Analysis Using TPSFASTT

2. Getting Started… • This is a process to help you organize your analysis of poetry. • You have already learned the vocabulary, now it’s time to put it into practice! • Together, we are going to analyze “The Road Not Taken” using TPFASTT. • You will be given a note sheet to use as we analyze the poems.

3. Add your analysis of “The Road Not Taken” to the TPFASTT sheet as we go through each slide.

4. T is for TITLE • Analyze the title first. • What do you predict this poem will be about? • Write down your predictions. • We will reflect on the title again after we have read the poem. • The next step is often omitted, but it is the most important!!!!

5. READTHEPOEM!!!!

6. The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

7. P is for PARAPHRASE • Paraphrasing is putting something in your own words. • After reading the poem, rewrite it in your own words. • This may be three sentences or a page, depending on the particular poem.

8. S is for Speaker • The speaker of the poem is different from the Poet. • Answer the question: “Who is speaking in this poem?” • The choice of speaker should be supported by evidence from the poem. • It can be someone specific (King Arthur) or someone general (a dragon/ a wise old man).

9. Analyze the figures of speech and sound effects of the poem. Look for literary devices such as imagery, symbolism, metaphor, simile, personification, and effects of sound (alliteration, rhyme, etc.). F is for Figurative Language apostrophe ASSONANCE alliteration RHYME diction personification onomatopoeia simile implied metaphor meter HYPERBOLE direct metaphor

10. A is for ATTITUDE • Tone is the attitude of the speaker toward the subject of the poem. Use adjectives to describe tone. • Ex: desperate, happy, judgmental, thoughtful, depressed, etc. • You must have evidence to support your choice.

11. S is for SHIFT • If there is a change in… • Time • Tone • Speaker This should always be noted as this will also affect the meaning. Look for: shift words (but, yet, then, etc.) and punctuation

12. T is for TITLE (again) • At this time, you should reconsider the title. • Were you right in your predictions? • What other meanings might the title have in light of your analysis? • Next, the biggie….

13. T is for THEME • Theme is the general insight into life conveyed by the author through his/her work. • It does not make a judgment. example: “Don’t do drugs” is not a theme. • It merely states something that is true to life and the human condition. • First list what the poem is about, then determine what the poet is saying about the subject.

14. How do I find theTHEME? • Look at the other parts of TPSFASTT. • What insight are all of these working together to convey? • What is the poet trying to say about life?

15. Homework • TPSFASTT Chart: Choose one of the three poems from the handout. • Due Friday, October 31st.

16. Poetry Discovery Discussion • Take out your homework so we can discuss it.