I was wondering if anyone could help me with my TPCASTT for the poem "Spirits of the Dead" by Edgar Allan Poe. I have some stuff down but I'd like to see what other people would do to check if I am doing my TPCASTT right. Anything would help, its due on Monday (the 12th of June)

Thy soul shall find itself alone
     'Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,
     Which is not loneliness, for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
     In life before thee are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee: be still.

The night, tho' clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like Hope to mortals given;
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem

As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.
Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish-
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more - like dew-drops from the grass.

The breeze - the breath of God - is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy - shadowy - yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token, -
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!

If you don't know what a TPCASTT is you can go here:
[hs.houstonisd.org]

I need help mainly with Attitude, Shifts, Title (2nd one), and Theme. Although any help on the other things are welcome as well. Thanks! ^-^

Looks like Poe wrote three slightly different versions of this one:

[www.eapoe.org]

Here is the first of them, The Visit of the Dead,


Thy soul shall find itself alone —
Alone of all on earth — unknown
The cause — but none are near to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.
Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness — for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall then o'ershadow thee — be still
For the night, tho' clear, shall frown:

And the stars shall look not down
From their thrones, in the dark heav'n;
With light like Hope to mortals giv'n,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy withering heart shall seem
As a burning, and a ferver [[fever]]
Which would cling to thee forever.
But 'twill leave thee, as each star
In the morning light afar
Will fly thee — and vanish:
— But its thought thou can'st not banish.
The breath of God will be still;
And the wish [[mist or wisp]] upon the hill
By that summer breeze unbrok'n
Shall charm thee — as a token,
And a symbol which shall be
Secrecy in thee.



The first stanza seems quite similar, whereby Poe predicts what will happen after death. Your soul will find itself alone, but you won't feel lonely, merely a sense of solitude.

The second stanza ends with a summer breeze that is charming, and the breath of God is mist upon a hill. Is all that supposed to make us less fearful of death? Doesn't work for me, if so.

Is he attempting to suggest that we will all end up as ghosts? That seems to be more the thrust of the later versions, at least to my reading. Well, that I might end up ghost is certainly comforting to me, a lot better than an eternity of blackness, or one roasting in Hades!

That would be my take on the Attitude part. For shifts, I would say the first stanza (of your final version) predicts the immediate time after death, the 2nd gives advice not to fear the experience, and in the 3rd and 4th we become one with the heavens. The last stanza gives us the misty/ghosty/breath of God imagery and leaves us grasping for exactly what is mystery of mysteries is. Not much help to my understanding, no.

The only shift in Title I could speculate would be the original versus later versions where the Visit becomes the Spirits (more permanent).

I notice you left out Connotation in your request, and I infer you have already done that part, which I would not mind reading if you care to share.

Personally, I hate TPCASST. How do we know that the poet even put any thought into the title? And what do you do with a title like Sonnet 17? Okay, enough grouching. Time to work.

T-title: The meaning of the title without reference to the poem.

P-paraphrase: Put the poem, line by line, in your own words. DO NOT READ INTO THE POEM. Only read on surface level.


C-connotation: looking for deeper meaning.

Diction and symbolism
Imagery
Metaphors and similes
Rhyme scheme
End rhymes and internal rhymes
End stop
Enjambment
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Mood
Allusions
Punctuation
Personification



A-attitude: Looking for the author’s tone. How is the writer speaking?

-Read this out loud- that helps with tone. Is the writer sad, happy, depressed?



S-shifts: Looking for shifts in tone, action, and rhythm. Don’t just write the number. Discuss how the shift(s) affects the poem.



T-title: reevaluate the title as it pertains to the poem
-- The original title made me think of ghosts. Is he talking to the ghosts?


T-theme: What does the poem mean? What is it saying? How does it relate to life?

Awesome ^^ Thanks alot!
As for the Connotation my teacher said to just list figures of speech and say what they are, so theres no explanation or anything. All I have so far is..

Stanza 1
-Rhyme Scheme: aabc
-"thy soul shall find itself alone" - apostrophe
-"gray tombstone" - sight imagery

Stanza 2
-RS: abcbdd
-"spirits of the dead who stood" - apostrophe
-"Be silent in that solitude which is not loneliness" - paradox

Stanza 3
-RS: aabbcc
-"the night, tho' clear, shall frown" - personification
-"the stars shall not look down" - personification
-"with light like Hope" - simile
-"their red orbs" - metaphor

Stanza 4
-RS: aabbcc
-"as a burning and a fever" - simile
-"cling to thee forever" - hyperbole
-"like dew-drops from the grass" - simile
-"ne'er to vanish" - hyperbole

Stanza 5
-RS: aabbcc
-"The breeze- the breath of God- is still" - metaphor
-"mystery of mysteries" - alliteration

I'm still in the process of looking for assonance, consonance, imagery, and diction (these and what I've found already is basically what our teacher has asked for). If you'd like to add more, feel free :D

Well I've got quite bit down, although I stil have absolutely no idea what to put for the second Title :/ (and I haven't quite finished connotation yet, but I'll do that later). Any other help on those two would be awesome ^^