Lesson 12 Poetry Analysis Using TPCASTT Todays Agenda

Lesson 12 Poetry Analysis Using TPCASTT

Today’s Agenda 1. Collect Lesson 11 homework 2. TPCASTT – What in the world do those letters mean? 3. “Auto Wreck” by Karl Shapiro 1. Annotate (using TPCASTT) 2. Formulate thesis. 3. Support with evidence. 1. DUE LESSON 13 OBJECTIVE: Critical Analysis of Poem

Getting Started… • This is a process to help you organize your analysis of poetry. • Together, we are going to analyze “Auto Wreck” by Karl Shapiro using TPCASTT. • You have a note sheet that looks like this…

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!!!!

READ THE POEM!!!!

P is for PARAPHRASE • YOUR OWN WORDS • May be three sentences or a page, depending on the particular poem

C is for CONNOTATION • Analyze the figures of speech and sound effects of the poem. • These are the poetry vocabulary we have already studied. • These elements add to the meaning.

A is for ATTITUDE • Tone is the attitude of the speaker toward the subject of the poem.

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.

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….

T is for THEME • As you already know, 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.

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

“Auto Wreck” by Karl Shapiro Its quick soft silver bell beating, And down the dark one ruby flare Pulsing out red light like an artery, The ambulance at top speed floating down Past beacons and illuminated clocks Wings in a heavy curve, dips down, And brakes speed, entering the crowd. The doors leap open, emptying light; Stretchers are laid out, the mangled lifted And stowed into the little hospital. Then the bell, breaking the hush, tolls once. And the ambulance with its terrible cargo Rocking, slightly rocking, moves away, As the doors, an afterthought, are closed. We are deranged, walking among the cops Who sweep glass and are large and composed. One is still making notes under the light. One with a bucket douches ponds of blood Into the street and gutter. One hangs lanterns on the wrecks that cling, Empty husks of locusts, to iron poles. Our throats were tight as tourniquets, Our feet were bound with splints, but now, Like convalescents intimate and gauche, We speak through sickly smiles and warn With the stubborn saw of common sense, The grim joke and the banal resolution. The traffic moves around with care, But we remain, touching a wound That opens to our richest horror. Already old, the question Who shall die? Becomes unspoken Who is innocent? For death in war is done by hands; Suicide has cause and stillbirth, logic; And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms. But this invites the occult mind, Cancels our physics with a sneer, And spatters all we knew of denouement Across the expedient and wicked stones.

Putting It All Together TITLE AND AUTHOR WHAT HE DOES AND THE EFFECT In “Auto Wreck” by Karl Shapiro, Shapiro uses similes and metaphors to emphasize the fantasy-like and wild setting of the auto wreck. He describes the light as “Pulsing out red light like an artery, ” comparing the red light emitted from an ambulance to the blood of an artery. The idea that a light is spurted out like blood is abstract and bizarre. In addition to that simile, Shapiro describes the wreckage as “Empty husks” locust-like in the devastation they cause. This depiction of the auto wreck is extravagant and almost unreal. Using figurative language, Shapiro reinforces theme of death as being bizarre and perplexing. SPECIFIC EXAMPLES EFFECT OF EXAMPLES RESTATEMENT OF THESIS