TPCASTT of "Invictus"

Your homework is due at the start of class Monday. Your homework is to TPCASTT the poem "Invictus." To get you going in the right direction, I will try to help you out. The parts highlighted are actual answers you can use if you want. The parts NOT highlighted are just tips for you to follow.

T - The title Invictus could mean any number of things. But without reading the poem, my best guess is that it has something to do with the definition for invictus, which means undefeated or unconquerable.

P - I am coming out of the night time, which was all around me
It was so completely dark from end to end that it was like being in a deep well
I give praise to whoever is responsible (the gods? God?)
for giving me this invincible character

That's one stanza. Surely you can do the other 3 by yourself.



C - repetition - lines 15-16 both start "I am the..."
repetition - line 12, finds and shall find me
rhyme scheme - ABAB (and it stays completely true to that in every stanza)
In line 10, the word Horror is capitalized. That can't be an accident; it is being used as a proper noun, maybe because it symbolizes the thing or person (the devil?) that causes me to suffer.

Boom, that's 4 things. You can thank me later. Now... find some more.



A - I have yet to give you the list of tone words, so for now, you are on your own to come up with the speaker's attitude. You've heard the poem several times. How do you think the speaker in it feels?

S - Think of the shift in time for this one. The speaker is talking about what has happened before, but he also talks about the here and now. He even refers to the future. There's also a shift in the third stanza. Can you find it? It should be recognizable because of the conjunction that often signals a shift.

T - Look back at the title. Why use this title? What could the poet have meant by using this title?

T - We have talked about this. What is the speaker's message to us? And really, why do I say this poem so often? The answer should reveal the theme of the poem.