Poem: “Grape Sherbet” by Rita Dove Page: 664

TPCASTT: Poem Analysis Method
Title
The meaning of the title without reference to the poem. / n  enjoying life
n  ice cream of a grape flavor
n  summer holiday
Paraphrase
the Poem / n  Memorial Day BBQ: Dad made grape sherbet. (He is proud of his sherbet.)
n  kids are joyful
n  Speaker keeps remembering the sweet taste of the sherbet.
n  Everyone loves it, but the diabetic grandma refuses to eat it.
n  Kids take no notice of everyone who is buried in the cemetery.
Connotation
How does the use of all the poetic devices (back of paper) contribute to the overall mood and meaning of the poem? / Now, the speaker cannot remember the full taste of the sherbet. The memory of the grape sherbet reminds her of her dad’s actions, and she remembers her father before his death.
Attitude
What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject?
What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader? / Speaker: flashback to youth; reflecting as an adult - nostalgic memories
n  happy/ regretful
n  kid is carefree
n  adult misses the father and wishes she could remember more details
Shift
Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur?
(Look for time and place, keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence structure.)
What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning? / ln 1-8: the meal and dad
ln 9-12 :visiting cemetery
ln 12-22: taste of sherbet/ refusing grandma
ln 22-30: thoughts death and the cemetery were a joke to the child– Now that the father is gone, the speaker realizes it is not a joke.
Title revisited
Any new insights on meaning or significance of title? / memorial to the father’s love and fondness for sherbet
Theme
What does the poem mean? What is it saying? How does it relate to life/our unit of study? / n  importance of father/family
n  memories keep the dead with us
n  appreciate the little signs of love around you


Poetic Devices

POETIC FORM
(Elegy, Ode, Sonnet,
Free-Verse, etc.)
PF
Free-verse
4 strophes telling of a memory / RHYME SCHEME or
APPROXIAMATE RHYME
PF/SD
Ln 19 porch, ln 20 torch
approx. ln 29 bothered, ln 30 father / REPETITION or REFRAIN
PF/SD / PUNCTUATION
PF/SD
n  open question and answer set
n  establishes it is a memory
n  long, flowy statements
n  short lines
DICTION, SPEAKER, RHYTHM, DENOTATION
MM
Speaker is the child (as in offspring)
Denotation:
ln 12 milk tooth=baby tooth
ln 12 dollop- scoop
ln 18 diabetic- cannot have sugar / CONNOTATION
(Specific words that carry a larger meaning.)
MM
title “Grape sherbet”
ln 3 “masterpiece”-perfection
ln 1 “Memorial Day”
ln 14 “miracle” –divine
ln 10 “grassed-over mounds, stones”—graves
ln 12 “dollop” / ALLUSIONS
MM
ln 1 Memorial Day
ln 12 milk tooth- her young age
ln 10 “grassed-over mounds”- cemetery
ln 18 diabetic- no sugar diet / MOOD
MM
nostalgic
happy, excited, blissful, satisfied
PERSONIFICATION
FL
ln 20-21 “torch of refusal” / IMAGERY
FL
ln 4 “swirled snow gelled lightly”
ln 15 “like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter”
ln 8 “cap turned up so the bib resembles a duck” / METAPHORS
FL
ln 12-15 “each dollop a … miracle”
ln 18-21 “grandmother is a torch of pure refusal” / SIMILES
FL
ln 15 “like salt on a melon makes it sweeter”
SYMBOLISM
I
Grape sherbet – childhood, father’s love / ALLITERATION
SD
ln 4 “swirled snow”
ln 15 salt, sweeter
ln 14-15 “miracle like salt on a melon that makes it sweeter” / ONOMATOPOEIA
SD
ln 9 galloped / ADDITIONAL
(Consonance, Assonance, End/Internal Rhyme)
rhyme--ln 19 porch, ln 20 torch
approx. rhyme--ln 29 bothered, ln 30 father

KEY: PF (poetic form), MM (mood & meaning), FL (figurative language), I (interpretation), SD (sound devices)