1. SOAPSTone & Poetry Terms
ENG2D - Wilson

2. SOAPSTone
Speaker
Occasion
Audience
Purpose
Subject
Tone

3. Speaker Who is speaking in the piece?
What do you know about the speaker?
How do you know this about the speaker?
How would you characterize the speaker?
From what point-of-view is this story told?
The speaker is NOT the author!

4. Occasion What prompted the piece? What is the setting?
Time period & location
What is the context?
Is this piece in response to something?
What has inspired the piece?

5. Audience Who is the piece intended for?
Example: selling Gatorade to teenage girls – how would we do this?
Example: convincing your parents to send you to France for spring break

6. Purpose What is this piece trying to achieve?
To entertain? Educate? Persuade?
What is this piece trying to make the reader feel?

7. Subject
How can this piece be summed up in 1-2 sentences?
What is the topic of this piece?

8. Tone What is the mood of the piece?
How would you characterize the tone of the speaker? The piece?

9. Diction Word choice What words are used to help create the tone?
Specific words and vocabulary tell us a lot about:
Time period
The speaker’s background
The intended audience
Formality of the piece

10. Line
He, who navigated with success the dangerous river of his own birth once more set forth on a voyage of discovery into the land I floated on but could not touch to claim. His feet slid on the bank, the currents took him; he swirled with ice and trees in the swollen water

11. Stanza
He, who navigated with success the dangerous river of his own birth once more set forth on a voyage of discovery into the land I floated on but could not touch to claim. His feet slid on the bank, the currents took him; he swirled with ice and trees in the swollen water