Mood and Tone in Literature

1
Mood and Tone in Literature

• Two-Column Notes

2
Introduction

• Writers hope to stir emotions with their work.
• Emotions can produce the mood or feeling in a
  piece of writing.
• Mood may shift, but one mood usually prevails.
• Setting affects the mood dramatically.

3
Introduction (Continued)

• Tone describes the writers attitude toward his
  or her subject.
• How do mood and tone differ? Mood refers to the
  readers response to the text, and tone refers to
  the feelings of the writer.

4
Mood

• The writer may carefully select details such as
  descriptive words, dialogue, imagery, and setting
  to create a mood.
• The writer may also rely on sounds and rhythms
  of words to convey mood.
• May also use symbolism to create mood
• Symbol something that stands for something
  else

5
Mood Your Turn

• Describe the mood in the excerpt. What
  descriptive details help create this mood?
• The narrator expresses a sense of danger and the
  need for caution. Suspense is created through
  repetition. The images of the spiders web and
  the vultures eye suggest death and create a
  feeling of horror.

6
Tone

• Tone attitude the author takes toward the
  subject
• The language and details the writer chooses to
  describe the characters, setting, and events help
  to create the tone.
• Tone often reflects the authors purpose.

7
Tone Your Turn

• What attitude does Poe express about the speaker
  in the first tone excerpt?
• The narrators insistence that he is not mad
  (although he clearly is) suggests that Poe finds
  him pathetic but sympathetic. Poe feels sorry
  for the characters torment because the character
  claims to hear what is happening in hell.

8
Tone Your Turn

• In the second excerpt, what tone or attitude does
  the poet reveal?
• The speaker reveals that she is a widow and feels
  terrible about not being able to clothe her son
  properly. The poets attitude toward the speaker
  is one of sympathy and respect for her suffering.

9
Visualizing

• Three strategies
• Look for details that appeal to the senses.
• Form mental pictures.
• Connect personal experiences to the text.