TOASTT Graphic Organizer

Poem	TOASTT	Details	Annotations
The winter woods are lonely Dark and cold and void of life The winter woods are lonely Silence you could cut with knives Animals are nesting  In beds below the earth Trees have long since lost their leaves Awaiting the rebirth Rushing rivers freeze right through Their surfaces like metal The sky is bare, the last bird flew No flowers have a petal The winter woods are lonely They sleep the months away The winter woods are lonely But never here to stay	Step 1: Title	“The Winter Woods”	From the title of my poem, you know it is going to be about winter woods.
	Step 2: Own Words	This is a descriptive poem because it describes a forest during the winter.	Stanza 1: The first stanza gives you the image of a dark, cold, dead forest in the winter Stanza 2: The second stanza tells you about the animals and the threes that are hibernating through the cold months Stanza 3: More description about the first Stanza 4: Repetition of the first stanza, says how the winter woods are never here to stay
	Step 3: Analyze Poetic Devices	Imagery: Uses imagery to give the reader a detailed picture of the woods during winder Repetition: “The winter woods are lonely” Simile: “Rushing rivers freeze right through / their surfaces like metal” Personification: “The winter woods are lonely / they sleep the months away”	I use imagery to create a bleak picture of the woods during winter.  The rhyme scheme is regular (ABAB, ABCB, ABAB) and allows the reader to create a rhythm in their head as they read.
	Step 4: Shifts	The whole poem is written through the voice of an outside narrator — no “I” or “you”	The poem is not meant to relate to humans so no “I”s or “you”s are used, just “the woods”
	Step 5: Tone	Negative Connotation: lonely, dark, cold, bare, Positive Connotation: nesting, rebirth, “never here to stay”	More words in the poem have a negative connotation, so that gives it a more bleak feeling. The positive words are in opposition with the negative.
	Step 6: Theme	Tone: Somber Mood: Bleak Imagery: Strong, descriptive	No matter how bleak or dark things may seem, even the coldest winters blossom into beautiful springs.

Summative Analysis: I used imagery in my poem to give the reader a detailed picture of the winter woods as they read. I also used other poetic devices like simile - “Rushing rivers freeze right through / their surfaces like metal” and personification - “The winter woods are lonely / they sleep the months away” to add meaning to the poem. The tone and mood are both quite dark and bleak, but in the last stanza where it says “but never here to stay” ends it on a positive note. This implies that even the darkest, bleakest moments of life will eventually fade away and bloom into something beautiful like the forest will do in springtime. 

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