Lincoln County Schools Patriot Day Instructional Expectations
Patriot Day 5
School: LCHS
Course/Subject: AP English IV
Teacher: Manion
Learning Target: I can identify and explain the significance of the essential elements of the writer’s craft
in given poems through an in-depth analysis using the TPCASTT method.
Lesson Expectations/Standard:
1. Read poems #14-16 in the Patriot Day packet for AP English IV students.
2. Complete a handwritten, TPCASTT analysis for two of the three assigned poems. You should do all of
the analysis on the handout with the poem; you do not need to write on separate paper. Annotate
as your analyze; write notes to yourself, underline/highlight key ideas, figures of speech, interesting
diction, etc…
3. Mastery will be determined using the assignment scoring rubric (0-4) for each poem, recorded as
evidence in Infinite Campus, and finally used to determine any overall standard score for
independent reading and poetry analysis. Mastery will be determined using your annotations and
TPCASTT analysis. This is not a “tell-me-how-you-feel” or “what-does-the-poem-mean-to-you”
assignment—you will be assessed on your ability to accurately analysis the author’s intended
meaning and purpose.
Links to Resources and Support:
The collection of poems may be accessed digitally through this link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BymlkW0ynR9WTGw3RjdHcV8xMEk/view?usp=sharing
Teacher Support: You may contact me using any of the following methods.
Email: [email protected]
Remind: Text “@manioneng4” to the number 81010, then send me a private text message
*Reminder: Assignments are due back to teachers the next day we are in school, if possible, or within 1
week of the Patriot Day.
How to TPCASTT a poem
TPCASTT is a method of analyzing poetry that gives you a formula to work from when you’re
trying to figure out what a poem means. It’s an excellent way to “cover the bases”, rather than
just asking someone to tell what he/she thinks the poem might mean. Below is a description of
what you should analyze in each step.
Directions for this packet: Analyze each of the poems in this packet using the TPCASTT
method, step by step. You should do all the analysis on these handouts; you do not need to
write on separate paper. Annotate as you analyze; write notes to yourself, underline/highlight
key ideas, figures of speech, interesting diction, etc. There is an example for you to study before
you start your own analysis.
Title: Take a look at the title before you even read the poem. What could it mean? Sometimes,
the title is very straightforward – that tells you a great deal about what to expect from the
poem. Often, the title is somewhat cryptic in nature. That should tell you something about
what to expect, too.
Paraphrase: What is the literal meaning of the poem? It’s difficult to get the figurative
meaning of the poem if you can’t figure out the literal meaning.
Connotation: Here’s the meat of the analysis. What is the implied meaning, and how does the
poet convey this meaning? (Hint: It does NOT simply mean “negative” or “positive”
connotation.) What kind of literary things are going on in the poem? Think in terms of
diction (word choice), syntax (sentence structure), imagery, symbolism, etc. Any literary
device used in the poem fits under the connotation category.
Attitude: What is the tone of the poem? If you have trouble determining tone, start by
deciding whether the tone is positive or negative, and then become more precise from there.
Shift: There is a shift of some sort in nearly every poem written. It might be a shift in tone, in
subject matter, in meaning, in rhyme scheme – anything. Look for the shift, and then decide
why the poet has a shift in that particular place.
Title: Take another look at the title. What does it mean to you now that you’ve analyzed the
poem?
Theme: In a sentence, what is the theme? In other words, what statement about life is the poet
making? Be careful: theme is difficult to nail down, and all too often students put down the
subject matter instead of the theme.
#14 – Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49)
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than loveI and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and meYes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than weOf many far wiser than weAnd neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
#15 – Walt Whitman (1819-92)
O Captain, My Captain
1
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
5
2
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
10
15
3
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
20
#16 – Emily Dickinson (1830-86)
I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable, and then
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see.