THE “TIPCASTT” METHOD OF POETRY ANALYSIS
The TIPCASTT method encourages the beginning student of poetry to
integrate the literal and figurative meanings conveyed by a poem into a
coherent understanding of the poem, highlighted by an understanding of
the literary devices that helped the poem’s purpose to be realized.
This systematic approach takes 7 steps. Use the rest of this worksheet to
follow these steps for your given poem, writing in the spaces provided. Be sure to retain this and other
TIPCASTT worksheets for future reference.
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STEP 1: TITLE.
Write the title and author of the poem:
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Then, predict what the poem will be about:
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STEP 2: PARAPHRASE
Silently read the poem. Then, listen to it read aloud by someone else. Finally, restate its literal meaning
in your own words on the following lines. Try to write at least one sentence for each stanza of the poem,
capturing all of its literal ideas:
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STEP 3: CONNOTATION.
Reread the poem and state its point of view.
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Then, reread the poem, looking for rhyming patterns. What is the rhyme pattern, if any?
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EAHS AP English Winner’s Circle Workshops 2010
Next, look for especially significant or unusual words in the poem. Why were they included? What meaning do
they convey?
Word
Line #
Why included/Meaning
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Finally, look for examples of poetic devices in the poem. Describe these devices. How do such devices aid the
poem in achieving its poetic effects? State your answer in a complete sentence..
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STEP 4. ATTITUDE
Reread the poem, looking for diction, images, and details that hint at or suggest the poet’s attitude to the
poem’s subject. Note these examples below.
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EAHS AP English Winner’s Circle Workshops 2010
STEP 5. SHIFT.
Rarely does a poet begin and end the poetic experience in the same place. Discovery of a poet’s
understanding of an experience is critical to the understanding of a poem. Trace the feelings of the
speaker from the beginning to the end, paying particular attention to the conclusion. Reread the poem,
marking the places in it where the speaker’s feelings shift or change. Watch for changes in line length, sound,
diction, and punctuation.
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Look for the following to find shifts:
1. Key words (but, yet, however, although)
2. Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis)
3. Stanza division
4. Changes in line or stanza length or both
5. Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)
6. Effect of structure on meaning
7. Changes in sound (rhyme) may indicate changes in meaning
8. Changes in diction (slang to formal language)
Annotate the text, or mark your notes here:
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STEP 6. TITLE
Now, reread the poem’s title again and your initial explanation for it. Now that you’ve reread the poem
several times and analyzed its features, explain the title of the poem interpretatively.
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STEP 7. THEME
First, identify the literal subject(s) of the poem.
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Then, identify the abstract or figurative subject of the poem.
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Now, state what the poem is saying about its subjects:
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Finally, write the theme of the poem in a complete sentence.
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EAHS AP English Winner’s Circle Workshops 2010