Annotating Poetry TPCASTT Step One: The Title (the "T" of TPCASTT) The title might seem minuscule compared to the rest of the poem. But the title, quite often tells you a lot about the entire poem. Take your time with each word and write what the connotation of that particular word is. The literal meaning is important to take into consideration. Step Two: Paraphrase (the "P" of TPCASTT) Paraphrasing is making a line shorter and it will help you in the long run to write the literal meaning of the important lines. It's important to write the literal meaning in your own words, so that you can understand it when you read over it. Sometimes this is very difficult to accomplish and takes some work. Step Three: Connotation (the "C" of TPCASTT)