Definintion of Literature: the writings dealing with a particular subject
This morning, I woke up thinking I was going to type up a blog on Turn of the Screw, but instead I discovered that it was on the various techniques of poetry. Life is full of little suprises like these, eh? It’s like returning from a long vacation. Anawho, it can be said that analyzing poetry can be hard without a systematic method of looking at each element, piece by piece. Thank goodness, then, for the great masterminds behind the scenes that come up with such formulas for finding an author’s true intent towards their fictional creations. And not to mention the wonderful acronyms that help up TPCASTT and SOAPSTone entire works. That’s genuine entertainment right there, or at least makes it easier to remember the titles for an otherwise slightly complex list of poetry analyzing methods (Shall I list them, or does everyone remember them? Heck, they’re in our packets, right? I’ll save myself a headache. They’re written at the bottom anyway). Let’s go through a poem to see if we can observe closer, then, shall we? Actually, that sounds incredibly boring. Let’s take a look at some song lyrics by Ke$ha, and see if we can’t apply the same techniques to mainstream entertainment. Because, honestly, who writes poetry anymore? If we want to share our thoughts, we usually just use Facebook, or maybe steal someone else’s thoughts from the internet. Isn’t technology great? I hold no grudge against poetry, mind you, but the same techniques can be applied to any form of entertainment. So first, hows about we take a look at how we would go about doing so. Below is the song which will be analyzed:
Your Love is My Drug
By Kesha
Maybe I need some rehab
Or maybe just need some sleep
I got a sick obsession
I'm seeing it in my dreams
I'm looking down every alley
I'm making us desperate 'cause
I'm staying up all night hoping
Hitting my head against the wall
What you got boy is hard to find
I think about it all the time
I'm all strung out, my heart is fried
I just can't get you off my mind
Because your love- your love- your love is my drug
Won't listen to any advice
Momma's telling me I should think twice
But love to my own devices
I'm addicted, it's a crisis
My friends think I've gone crazy
My judgments getting kinda hazy
My steeze is gonna be affected
If I keep it up like a lovesick crackhead
What you got boy is hard to find
I think about it all the time
I'm all strung out, my heart is fried
I just can't get you off my mind
Because your love- your love- your love is my drug
I don't care what people say
The rush is worth the price I pay
I get so high when you're with me
But crash and crave you when you leave
Hey, so I gotta question
Do you wanna have a slumber party in my basement?
Do you wanna make your heart beat like an 808 drum?
Is my love with your drug?
Your drug, uh your drug
Uh your drug is my love, your drug
Because your love- your love- your love- is my drug
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As an example, here is the first way we could analyze this poem: TPCASTT.
T(itle): A person loving is the same as a narcotic for a person specified.
P(araphrase): A Girl describes how she feels when she’s with a dude.
C(onnotation): Though it originally appears as though the girl is very sick, and becoming crazy, we can learn from the tone that the author is saying that she is just using these effects as metaphors for how she feels (e.g. the words “crave” and “high” used when talking about the guy).
A(ttitude): Very Sad, Longing (This is arguable, however)
S(hift): Once the song returns to the chorus, a summary is given of the entire article. However, the tone doesn’t change, and the premise is the same throughout.
T(itle): By comparing the effects of the girl being happy by the dude’s presence to an illegal substance (which is also, obviously a way to make a person high, albeit not in a good way), the author tries to tell the audience how she feels, which is, we can assume, very happy.
T(heme): Receiving comfort from an actual person is much more rewarding than that of an physical substance.
And if we want to SOAPSTone it:
S(ubject): Everyone is looking for love. But it can be difficult to deal with at times.
O (ccasion): The Girl is with a guy, and is thinking of how to describe how she feels towards him.
A(udience): Those who think they have been in love; the common bystander, as the author tries to capture his/her attention.
P (urpose): Though created to make money, the poem was written to sound as though the main character was trying to relate to the audience how hard it is to deal with love (how dangerous it is, and how good it can make one feel.)
S(peaker):Though the writer of the lyrics may be someone else, the speaker was made to be the pop star Kesha, who is automatically entitled by society to be incredibly knowledgeable about the social aspects of life.
T(one): The tone of this article seems to be the opposite of its message contained in the story, which is somewhat unusual. When using words like sick obsession to describe her love, as well as the comparison to a physical drug, e.g. “the rush is worth the price I pay”, it gives the entire piece an angry, longing attitude. However, it is obvious that the article is supposed to be describing how happy she feels (but also briefly how she sad she feels when the guy is gone). It can be speculated that this was just the choice of the author, to strengthen her point.
So, that wasn’t very hard, was it? By compiling pieces of this info together, a more complete statement can be put together to describe the author’s intent. This is useful for essays, or maybe even for planning one’s own literary work. Basically, it’s just a way of breaking down the ideas of the author into a concise graphic on paper. However, the poems analyzed in class will be much higher level, especially as we get AP test questions throughout the semester, as we’ve seen in class. But if you can analyze a song, heck, it’s probably not that bad to analyze a poem.
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5 comments:
outstanding application of tpcast and soapstone!
I like how you applied both methods to the same piece. It gives good perspective on both TPCASTT and SOAPSTone. I've found that I really have no love of either method. If I had to choose, I'd pick TPCASTT, thogh. From TPCASTT, I find it worth my time to consider the title, paraphrase the whole poem, and look at the theme. Looking at the connotation and attitude is pretty automatic for me, so I don't need to dedicate much time for it. I don't dedicate much thought or time to shift unless a question specifically asks me to do so. So, TPCASTT isn't totally worthless, but I still don't like the idea of taking each part in a step. I like paraphrasing and taking everything else from that. SOAPStone is another story. In the "occasion" category, it actually departs from New Criticism, giving TPCASTT immediate superiority for taking the AP test.I'd encourage everyone to use elements that they like from each, but not follow one or the other completely unless they feel completely comfortable with it.
Holy cow, Connor. Great full and directive post! I like how you used both techniques, SOAPSTone and TPCASTT, AND gave a demonstration of to work off of and show examples. Personally, I enjoy TPCASTT a lot better, since it dives into the piece a little more.
Connor, I must say I am very impressed! I have a tough time with poetry so when I began reading your post and saw you would analyze a song I was anxious to see what you came up with! Without hearing that song before, I could now tell someone else the theme, attitude, and connotation, among other things to someone else after reading your SOAPSTone and TPCASTT. Usually, I prefer to tackle TPCASTT instead of SOAPSTone, but you applied both very well and it was very interesting to read!
Conner, this was amazing. This post definitely helped me with the TPCASTTing, because I can't do that to save my life. I must admit, I am much better at the SOAPSTone, but now I can look at this post and hopefully get some ideas for TPCASTTing. I usually take the idea of paraphrasing from that, though. It helps me immensely. Thanks for posting that, and I will be using it for the next time we have to analyze a poem!
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