Poetry analysis English A1 SL Help!

[benjaminlee92]

hi, im doing A1 english standard and am wondering what are the most important points in analyzing poetry. what can i do to practice this? my teacher isn't really giving help.

Edited April 26, 2009 by benjaminlee92

[moneyfaery]

We learned TPCASTT, which is just a list of basic things to look for to get started:

Title: What predictions can you make from the title? What are your initial thoughts about the poem? What might be the theme of the poem?

Paraphrase: Summarize the poem in your own words.

Connotation: What is the connotative meaning of the poem? Find examples of imagery, metaphors, similes, etc. and elaborate on their connotative meanings.

Attitude: What attitude does the poet have toward the subject of the poem? Find and list examples that illustrate the tone and mood of the poem.

Shift: Is there a shift in the tone/attitude of the poem? Where is the shift? What does the tone shift to?

Title: Revisit the title and explain any new insights it provides to the meaning of the poem.

Theme: What is the overall theme of the poem?

(pulled from here)

If you google 'explicate poetry' or something like that, you might find more formats.

[sweetnsimple786]

We do TPFASTT, which is pretty much the same thing.

I think it's essential to be familiar with the major literary devices, which you can google easily.

The poetry we studied were works in translation, so if you're doing the same, be sure to consider how the the diction could have been changed!

Hope that helps

Edited September 10, 2009 by sweetnsimple786

[ibapiggie]

by the way, the F in TPFASTT stands for figurative language. it basically means literary devices like on the list above. this is usually a good section because you can analyze a lot in it. i can usually find a ton to write about and make up a ton of symbolism about stuff as minor as alliteration.

the best thing about poetry is that you can claim that it means just about anything and support it with the most random evidence and it'll work.

[Tilia]

Don't forget the EFFECTS of the literary devices

[eankeel]

There is a formula for introduction. In the introduction you should first state the title of the poem and the author. It is also very important to state what the peome is about and state what devices are present. Try to state how you are going to split the poem up to anaylse is a good idea. That is how I do and I get a seven. Remember don't start writing until you have a basic idea about what you are going to write or it just gets messy

[hermine0817]

We did SPECSLIMSS but that was in grade 9. Nevertheless, it still applied in our school.

S (subject)

P (purpose)

E (emotion)

C

S (structure)

L (language)

I (imagery)

M (movement)

S (sound)

S (summary)

"C" was there just to make the whole thing not sound like "SPESLIMSS".

p.s. you made me look up the thing again... actually I had forgotten most of it...

[thousandmud]

We did SPECSLIMSS but that was in grade 9. Nevertheless, it still applied in our school.

S (subject)

P (purpose)

E (emotion)

C

S (structure)

L (language)

I (imagery)

M (movement)

S (sound)

S (summary)

"C" was there just to make the whole thing not sound like "SPESLIMSS".

p.s. you made me look up the thing again... actually I had forgotten most of it...

I learnt that method of analyzing poems too. However, the 'C' in my SPECS & SLIMS was craftsmanship.

Subject matter: what event, situation, or experience does the poem/prose describe or record?

Purpose: what are the theme(s) or message(s) the poet/author is trying to get across? why has he/she created the characters & what do they represent?

Emotion, mood or feeling: what is the predominant mood or feeling of the poem/extract? does it change as the piece develops?

Craftsmanship, or technique: what techniques has the author used in writing the piece and why has the author used them?

Sound: are there any noticeable sound features, such as alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia or rhyme? is the writer using direct speech--if so, why & to what effect?

Structure: is it conventional; a sonnet, ode, ballad etc? for prose, think about the way that the plot is built up & how it culminates.

Language: what is the narrative perspective of the piece & how does this relate to the purpose? how would you describe the author's choice of words? striking, vivid, predictable? is it appropriate to the subject/genre? what effect does the language have on the text's achievement?

Imagery: are there any striking egs. of similes, metaphors etc. in the piece? what is their effect?

Movement, or rhythm: is the pace/rhythm regular, doe sit change? what are the implications of changes in the reader & how do these changes relate to the subject matter? does the poem rhyme or is it written in blank verse? how does the poet's approach relate to the subject & purpose?

Summary: it's important at the end to try & pull all the elements together. what is the impact of the whole piece for you? does it successfully achieve what the write wanted, or does it fail in some way?

The notes were given to me by a friend whose teacher gave it to her as reference. It's pretty good in organizing your thoughts & essay.

Hope it helps(:

[Jakebert]

Wow, those are all pretty good. If you take a look at the marking rubric for commentaries, you'll see there are five categories:

A: Knowledge of the text. Pretty much they check to see if you understood it correctly. Not much to get here.

B: Interpretation. This is harder in prose than in poetry. This is pretty much trying to figure out what the poet is trying to say. It changes for each poem, but analyzing poems in any of the ways indicated above will help you do that.

C: Appreciation of Literary Features. Talk about literary features, WHAT they are, WHAT they do, HOW they do it, and WHY. Also, why is it there?

Presentation. How organized your commentary is. It's better to do a thematic approach (i.e. find a theme(s) and then use specific examples to prove that theme rather than do a line by line analysis)

E: Formal Use of Language. Don't talk like this: "So den hamlet wuz like yo claudius u killed my dad the end." <--- you get 0

[rrswong]

Hi!

The other acronyms seem really long compared to the one that our school teaches, SCASI.

S etting

C haracters

A ction

S tyle - so, like literary features

I deas - Themes

Even though there's a whole 'paragraph' as such devoted to style, I tend to scatter some in the other sections as well.

Here's a powerpoint:

SCASI Powerpoint.ppt

Hope that helps!

Edited July 7, 2009 by rrswong