Lincoln County Schools Patriot Day Instructional Expectations
Patriot Day 4
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 #10-12 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.
#10 – Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
#11 – John Keats (1795-1821)
When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.
#12 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82)
The Children's Hour
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.
They climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.
I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.
They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!
From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.
Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.
I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.
A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!
And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!