Tone & MoodWhenever you read, watch, or listen to a text, you

will encounter elements that are meant to inspire certain feelings or emotions. These feelings are often caused by the tone and mood that the author chooses to portray in the work.

Tone and mood are essential for study because they not only determine our own experience when interacting with a text, but they also give us insight as critical readers into what the author’s goal is.

MoodThe overall atmosphere, or emotional effect that the text

creates for the audienceMood is the emotions that you (the reader) feel while you are

reading. Some literature makes you feel sad, others joyful, still others, angry.

A story can have one mood, or can change due to plot or changes in characters

Devices that create mood include: Descriptions (imagery, figurative language) Dialogue Setting Plot

Examples of MOODS include: suspenseful, joyful, depressing, excited, anxious, angry, sad, tense, lonely, suspicious, frightened, disgusted

Examples of Moods amused calm cheerful confident contemplative content determined dreamy ecstatic energetic enlightened excited flirty giddy grateful harmonious hopeful hyper idyllic

joyous light-hearted loving nostalgic optimistic passionate peaceful playful pleased relaxed satisfied silly surprised sympathetic thankful Thoughtful touched trustful vivacious

Warm aggravated annoyed anxious cold confused cranky crushed cynical depressed disappointed dreary embarrassed exhausted foreboding frustrated haunting heartbroken melancholic

moody nervous nightmarish painful pensive pessimistic predatory rejected restless scared serious stressed suspenseful terrifying uncomfortable

ToneThe speaker’s attitude or emotional stateTone is the attitude that a narrator or speaker takes

toward the audience, the subject, or the character. Tone is conveyed through the author's words and details. Typically it is not directly stated, but must be inferred.

Ex: “Cute dress!” she said as she walked by, her eyes

bright and cheerful. (Sincere, friendly tone) “Cute dress,” she said, arching one eyebrow and

smirking while her friends snickered behind her. (Sarcastic, dry tone)

Examples of TonesAdoringAffectionateApprovingCalmCasualCheerfulComfortingConfidentEcstaticHumorousHopefulLivelyPlayfulPassionate

ProudFriendlyGushyWhimsicalWorshipfulRomanticRelaxedRespectfulIndifferentAngryBitingBossyColdEvil

DemandingCreepyMiserableMelancholyThoughtfulPsychoticSarcasticSlySomberFearfulFranticCruelGrimTragic

Tone PracticeFor each poem, write down:

(A)What the tone is(B)Evidence (examples) that show this is the

tone

I will not play at tug o' warI'd rather play at hug o' war,Where everyone hugsInstead of tugsWhere everyone gigglesAnd rolls on the rug,Where everyone kissesAnd everyone grinsAnd everyone cuddlesAnd everyone wins.

Tone: Cheerful, a little defiant

Cheerful:“everyone hugs instead of tugs”“giggles”“kisses”“cuddles”“grins”“wins”All of these are cheerful, happy things people can do.

Defiant:

“I will not play at tug o’war” – refusing to play the game he doesn’t like

I will not play at tug o' warI'd rather play at hug o' war,Where everyone hugsInstead of tugsWhere everyone gigglesAnd rolls on the rug,Where everyone kissesAnd everyone grinsAnd everyone cuddlesAnd everyone wins.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is shatteredand the blue stars shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my armsI kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me sometimes, and I loved her too.How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

This is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; don't pick people's flowers—you might catch something; don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; 

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room.

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my lids and all is born again. (I think I made you up inside my head.) 

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red, And arbitrary blackness gallops in: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. 

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade: Exit seraphim and Satan's men: I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead. 

Tone PracticeEach of the following slides will contain a tone and a situation. Your challenge is to write about that situation and convey the tone through the words you choose. You will have five minutes to do each one.

Ex: Tone: MelancholySituation: Dropped ice cream on the ground

“I stare at it, melting there on the hot pavement. My comfort, the one thing to make me feel better after such a horrible day. The chocolate chips ooze out of the green cream; the sprinkles sink into the depths and disappear. Why can’t anything go well for me? Why am I destined to see everything I love fall in a wet plop of failure? I feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I replay the events of the day: the horrible break up, the bombed test, the cruel comments from my supposed best friend…bending down, I clumsily try to scoop up the oozing treat, but it slips through my fingers, just like all of my hopes and dreams.”

1. Tone: Upset

Situation: Seeing the person you’ve been dating for two years kissing your best friend.

2. Tone: Joyous

Situation: You have just discovered you have a super power.

3.Tone: Despair

Situation: You have just been bitten by a zombie and have two hours to live before you become one yourself.