Name_______________________________
Date__________________
Period_____
Directions:
1. First, mark where punctuation occurs in the poem (use a slash mark to indicate punctuation).
2. Next, read the poem in its entirety without any judgments—just enjoy and “take in” the poem.
3. Lastly, read the poem again. Only this time—ATTACK!!!! That is highlight and annotate the poem
starting with the title:
 Paraphrase/ summarize what is happening?
 Highlight/ annotate: unfamiliar words/ allusions, strong connotative words, strong/ reoccurring
images
My Papa’s Waltz
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
5
10
15
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
Part II: Diction/ Connotation Analysis
Directions: Identify and discuss at least five words that have strong connotative meaning in the poem.
Word?
In parentheses, indicate
the line number from
where the word comes.)
Connotative Meaning?
(What feelings, emotions, ideas, images do
we associate with the word?)
Type of Connotation?
(In the context of this
poem, does the word have
a positive, negative, or
neutral connotation?)
Significance?
Discuss the significance and/ or effect of this
word in the poem.
Part III: Imagery Analysis
Directions: Choose two major images in the poem to analyze.
Image from the Poem

Indicate the line
number in
parentheses.
Interpretation

Identify the image type (gustatory, olfactory,
tactile, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, or
organic).

Explain the image in your own words.
Context

Discuss whether the image is positive, negative,
or neutral in the context of the poem.

Discuss to what extent this is a reoccurring image
in and throughout the poem.
Analysis

Discuss the significance of the
image?
Part IV: TO-PASST--An Analytical Strategy
Directions: Respond to the following questions on your own sheet of paper. Attach your answers to the back of
this assignment.

Title- How does the title of the poem add significance and/ or meaning to the poem?

Occasion- For what particular occasion might the poet have written this poem? When was the poem
written? What were the historical, political, philosophical, and social issues of that time?

Purpose- What is the purpose of this poem? What is the poet trying to achieve? What does the poet/ speaker
want the audience to think or do as a result?

Audience- Who is this poem addressing? How do you know? Why is the author/ speaker addressing this
particular audience?

Speaker- Describe the speaker of this poem: Who is the speaker? To what extent can the speaker be the
poet or a specific persona? What is speaker like? Does the speaker participate in the poem or is he/ she an
observer? Why is the effect of the speaker being a participant or observer?

Subject- What is the subject of this poem? What does the poem seem to be “saying” about the subject (what
is the theme/ central message/ social commentary)? How does the title, occasion, purpose, audience, and
speaker relate to/ influence the theme/ central message/ social commentary ?

Tone- What seems to be the speaker’s/ poet’s tone (attitude towards the subject matter of the poem)? What
words and/ or images help to create this tone? How does knowing the historical political, philosophical, and
social context of the poem change your understanding of the speaker’s/ poet’s attitude? How does the tone
of the poem relate to or inform the poem’s theme, meaning, message, social commentary? Do you notice
any shift in tone (poet’s/ speaker’s change in attitude toward the subject matter) throughout the poem? If so,
where does the shift(s) in tone occur? For what reason? How is the tone shift signaled? How does the shift
in tone relate to or inform the poem’s theme, meaning, message, social commentary?
Part V: Introduction & Thesis Stem:
Introduction & Thesis Stem:
In _________________________, a poem about ________________________, __________________
(title of poem)
(subject)
(author’s name)
____________________
(verb)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
(Literary elements, devices, etc.—remember to use a descriptor (i.e. poetic diction, visual imagery, etc.)
to_________________________ that
(verb)
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
(Your claim—social commentary, theme, effect, relationship the author is conveying)