TP-CASTT: A Method for Analyzing and Understanding Poetry

Title / Examine and think about the title before reading the poem; predict what the poem may be about
Paraphrase / Re-write the poem in your own words. Focus on phrases & sentences, not line by line. Don’t try to interpret! Just paraphrase.
Connotation / Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal.
Look for: diction (word choice)
Figurative Language: imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, symbolism
Musical devices: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, meter, repetition, stanzas
Attitude / Tone: examine the persona & his/her attitude; don’t confuse persona with author!
Look for: Speaker’s attitude toward self, other characters, the subject
Shift / Note shifts in attitude, subjects, and speaker. Rarely does a poet begin and end the poem with the same attitude and views. The poet or persona’s understanding and experience changes with a gradual realization. Trace the changing feelings of the speaker from beginning to end, paying attention to the conclusion.
Look for: setting of the poem
Key words but, yet, however, although
Punctuation: commas vs. periods
Stanza and/or line division: change in stanza and/or line length
Rhyme scheme: change in pattern
Changes in diction: positive connotation to negative; slang to formal
The Crux (the change): one part of the poem that stands out
Title / Examine and think about the title again, this time on an interpretive level
Theme / First list the subject, what the poem is about. Then, determine what the poet is saying about those subjects (this is the theme). The theme should be a universal truth about the human experience, and it should be expressed as a complete sentence.

TP-CASTT: A Method for Analyzing and Understanding Poetry

Title / Predict what the poem may be about:
Paraphrase / Re-write the poem in your own words. Focus on phrases & sentences. Don’t interpret!
Connotation / Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal.
Figurative Language:
Musical devices:
Attitude / Persona’s tone & attitude toward self, other characters, the subject
Shift / Shifts in attitude, subjects, and speaker; changing feelings of the speaker from beginning to end; what is The Crux?
Title / Now interpret the title:
Theme / Subject(what the poem is about):
Theme (what the poet is saying about those subjects):