READ SILENTLY
either your independent SEM-R novel or your
Literature book
December 6, 2011 - Winter Poetry
TPCASTT - Cat on a Night of Snow
Homework
Study RIU flashcards for Thursday's quiz! Remember, media center checkout on Thursday. LA
formative on Friday!
Lesson Essential Question
How can the TPCASTT poetry analysis strategy help me better comprehend poetry?
Warm Up
Number 1-10 in your notes. I will hold up a picture which illustrates one of the words
from your Rev It Up list. Look carefully at the picture and write the vocabulary word that
you think it represents.
Let's review...What does TPCASTT stand for???
T-
Title - make a prediction. Ask yourself...What about that topic or subject could this
poem be about?
P - Paraphrase - put the poem's LITERAL meaning into your own words. You can chunk it
up, but make sure you cover everything!
C - Connotation - mark rhyme scheme, identify figurative language and other sound
devices, pull text to support, discuss the overall meaning on the overall poem's message or
idea
A - Attitude (author's tone) - How does the author feel about the subject? What are
words or phrases that prove this?
S - Shift - Where do changes occur in the poem? What kind of changes are they? What is
their impact on the text?
T - Title revisited - Is this title accurate? What would be a good alternate title based either
on the main idea or the theme of the poem?
T - Theme - what BROAD, not selection specific, lesson can the reader take away from
this? What does the speaker / author want the audience to learn from this poem?
Let's try to TPCASTT a poem together...
The following poem is
Cat on a Night of Snow
Cat on Night of Snow
- Elizabeth Coatsworth
t, if you go outdoors, you must walk in the snow. A
You will come back with little white shoes on your feet, B
little white shoes of snow that have heels of sleet. B
Stay by the fire, my Cat. Lie still, do not go. A
See how the flames are leaping and hissing low, A
I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite, B
so white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet - B
stay with me, Cat. Outdoors the wild winds blow. A
Ca
Number 1 or 3
Outdoors the wild winds blow, Mistress, and dark is the night, C
strange voices cry in the trees, intoning strange lore, D
and more than cats move, lit by our eyes green light, C
on silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar - D
Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and might, C
and things that are yet to be done. Open the door! D
Number 2 or 4
T - I predict Cat on a Night of Snow will be about a cat that gets lost on a snowy night,
a cat goes exploring in the snow, someone sees a cat on a snowy night, a kid finds a cat
in the snow.
-
P
The owner warns the cat that he will get snowy and cold and icy if he goes outside.
She suggests that the cat stay inside by the fire, and she will bring it a saucer of white
milk. She tells the cat to stay with her because outside it's very windy.
The cat says that the wind is blowing outside and it is dark. The trees are rustling in the
wind, it's mysterious outside. There are other animals outside that the cat can see. I have
to get out because there are many things to do, mysteries to discover. Open the door!
-
C rhyme scheme shifts as there is a shift in the poem.
repetition - Outdoors the wild winds blow
onomatopoeia - hissing - refers to the fire
alliteration - so white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet
metaphor - little white shoes on your feet = snowy cat feet
simile - saucer of milk like a marguerite
personification - flames were leaping and hissing, strange voices cry in the trees
A - both perspectives are given, trying to convince each other that the other one knows
better
Mistress - cautionary
the cat - determined, impatient
S - shift in speakers - it goes from the Mistress's perspective to the cat's
T - My Wishes, Two Separate Sides, Mistress vs. Cat,
When the Winds Blow
T - There's always a positive and negative, depending on which side you are on.
Situations can be viewed from different perspectives.
Homework
Study for Thursday's RIU quiz!