Lesson 4.03 Mood Swings

Tone and Mood

An author's choice of words is important. These purposeful words determine the author's attitude toward the subject, tone, and mood the feeling that the author's work creates for the audience .

Tone

How do you recognize the tone of a poet? If you read carefully and pay attention to the choice, arrangement, and emphasis of words and details, to rhythm and sound effects, you can determine the poet's attitude toward his material and his readers. Then, you have distinguished the tone of the poem.

Tone is the author's attitude toward the subject and the audience implied in a piece of literature. The author does this through diction the words that the author uses , point of view the vantage point the author uses , and syntax how the author arranges words . Look over the tone word list.

Has your mom or dad ever told you to watch your tone? Your tone can actually change the meaning of something. Try saying, "How are you?" in the following tones: sarcastic, concerned, sincere, irritated, secretive, and playful.

Mood

Tone is different from mood. Mood is the emotional attitude that the reader has toward the subject. Writers create mood by adding dialogue, creating setting, and developing plot. Essentially, mood is the emotion that the author wants the reader to feel. Think of this as a literary mood ring. Look over the mood word list.

The tone an author has toward his writing leads to the mood of the selection. For example, Shakespeare uses a playful and romantic tone in his Sonnet 143; therefore, it creates a happy and hopeful mood for the reader.

Select the words or phrases in the poem below that suggest the tone that the author has toward this piece. To select a word or phrase, simply click on it; when you find a word or phrase that suggests the tone that the author has toward this piece, it will turn yellow.

Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch
One of her feathered creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch
In pursuit of the thing she would have stay;
Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,
Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent
To follow that which flies before her face,
Not prizing her poor infant's discontent:
So run'st thou after that which flies from thee,
Whilst I, thy babe, chase thee afar behind.
But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me,
And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind.
So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will,
If thou turn back and my loud crying still.

What mood does this line invoke in you?

"But if thou catch thy hope, turn back to me, And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind."

Hopefully, the mood is humorous and hopeful.

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"Jabberwocky"

Now, read along as you listen to the poem called "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. As you read, think about the tone.

Read "Jabberwocky".

Listen to "Jabberwocky".

The author uses his imagination to create nonsense words that have a jingly rhythm to make the poem have rhythm. However, the mood changes in the poem depending on where the character is and what he is doing.

What is the tone of the first stanza in the poem?

Read stanza six again. What mood is evoked? See answer The mood is joyful because the father is praising his son. The words 'Callooh! Callay! Fragjous day!' suggests the happy tone. .

The poem is a ballad, a narrative poem that tells a story usually in four-line stanzas. "Jabberwocky" tells a story about a father's quest for his son, discusses supernatural events where he slays the Jabberwock, and has the main character being victorious as the son returns home.

Rhyme Scheme

Carroll also has a rhyme scheme in his ballad.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

What is the rhyme scheme of that stanza?

Poems can also have internal rhyme, rhyme within the same line. Can you identify the internal rhyme in the passage below? Select the two words that make up the internal rhyme. When you find one, its background will turn green.

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

A refrain is a group of lines, or verses, that are repeated throughout the poem. Look at the poem again. Do you see the refrain? See answer Refrain: first and last stanza .

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mom raths outgrabe.

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Theme

You know how to detect tone and mood in poetry; now, let's focus on determining the theme of a poem. The theme of a poem is the poet's message or underlying meaning. Theme isn't specific to the poem, so when you are discussing theme, think about a universal lesson or idea that could apply to life in general. When you state the theme of a poem, you use details from the poem to infer the theme.

A few common themes are:

• Money can't buy happiness.

• Don't judge a book by its cover.

• Beauty is only skin deep.

• Cooperation is the key to success.

• Nothing is a sure thing.

• You have to stop and smell the roses.

Read the Ted Kooser poem: "Abandoned Farmhouse."

How many people lived on the farm? See answer These lines suggest that there were three people in the family who lived on the farm: 'He was a big man...', 'A woman lived with him...', and 'they had a child.' . What evidence from the poem suggests that something went wrong at the farm? See answer The text directly states that 'Something went wrong' and the reader can infer when the poem uses personification to illustrate some of the things that are wrong, 'says the empty house in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars... toys are strewn in the yard.' .

Use your inferencing skills An inference is an educated guess, or a guess based on evidence. for the next question. The first line of the poem states: "He was a big man, says the size of his shoes." How can the narrator infer the size of the man? See answer The narrator is able to infer that the man was large by looking at the size of his shoes because large people usually wear large shoes.

There are several adjectives Words that describe nouns or pronouns. in the poem.

Do you think that the author chose these words on purpose? What does it mean that most of these adjectives fall under a negative connotation The feeling that a certain word invokes. ?

The author chose these words carefully to illustrate his tone. Which word below suggests the tone of the poem?

• deserted

• sad

• lonely

• desolation

• mysterious

• bleak

• depressing

Answer: All of the words suggest the tone the author is giving toward his work.

What is the mood that the poem suggests? See answer The mood is a sense of sadness or emptiness. The words 'abandoned, empty, and broken' are all used to show a form of depression and sadness.

By figuring out the tone and mood, you can now use your inferencing skills to infer the theme of the poem. What do you think is the theme of the poem?

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