TPCASTT Analysis for "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

Activity Overview

Poetry is one of the most expressive forms of literature. It can evoke emotions, set a mood, tell a story, or create a deeply and universally understood feeling in its readers. This makes expounding its elements, and understanding its rich meaning, comparisons, and symbols, even more important.

The TP-CASTT method of poetry analysis is a great way to teach students to dissect a poem and understand its parts. It helps students to uncover the deeper meanings within poems while giving them the confidence to be self-educators. TP-CASTT Poetry Analysis is an order of operations similar to PEMDAS for math. It asks students to list items in sequential order and answer questions based on their reading of the poem.

TPCASTT Example for "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

T	TITLE	I believe the title will be about someone famous in Greek History who has died.
P	PARAPHRASE	The speaker is looking at all the pictures on the urn and discussing them.
C	CONNOTATION	The speaker uses a mixture of happy and sad language, which conveys a very complicated, bittersweet emotion. He also uses a great deal of language about countrysides, and plants.
A	ATTITUDE/TONE	The speaker seems wistful about the passage of time.
S	SHIFTS	A shift occurs in the final stanza, when the speaker stops describing the scenes on the urn and writes about how the urn will endure, unchanged, even as human life moves on.
T	TITLE	After reading the poem my title was partially correct. The poem was deeper than expected, and wasn’t about a particular person.
T	THEME	Some things about life are the same as centuries ago; the urn is immortal as are the images on the sides.

This is a great activity to have students do in a small group. Once they are finished, ask them to create their own storyboard with the TPCASTT steps!

Template and Class Instructions

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