The differences and nuances between denotation and connotation are a popular topic to cover and review when discussing English grammar. In order for students to best understand and apply the use of tone in writing and literature, they must have a firm grasp of the distinction between what words denote and connote.
Two acronyms to start incorporating with your ELA students are TWIST and TP-CASTT. Both highlight important concepts from the work and will help increase overall literary comprehension!
“Women” by celebrated author Alice Walker takes a close look at the sacrifices African American women, especially of her mother’s generation, took in order to make sure that their children had better educations and futures than they did.
Teaching Poems - Women by Alice Walker TPCASTT poem analysis
Storyboard Text
T - TITLE
P - PARAPHRASE
C - CONNOTATION
A - ATTITUDE / TONE
S - SHIFT
T - TITLE
T - THEME
The title makes the poem sound like it might be about women. Maybe women in general? Women who made a difference in life?
The poem focuses on the narrator’s mother’s generation who were fierce and brave as they knocked down obstacles in order for their children to go to school. They probably wanted their children to have more opportunities than they did.
The narrator uses words that make the women sound like warriors: “...with fists as a well as hands / How they battered down doors”... “How they led armies / Headragged generals across mined fields / Booby-trapped ditches.”
The narrator’s tone is filled with admiration, determination, and awe of these women from the beginning of the poem. At the end, it softens as the women’s mission is made clear: to make sure their children are educated, even when they themselves were not.
The shift in the poem appears near the end when the narrator moves from warrior and military imagery to the reason why they are fighting: schools for their children.
The title is about the women of the narrator’s mother’s generation, who made sacrifices and fought so that their children could go to school.
The theme of the poem is that mothers will find bravery in their mission to make a better life for their children, and that education is worth fighting for.