Loading the lesson
Loading the lesson
Search AllRounder.ai
Search the courses, subjects, tracks, games and features, or jump straight to a page.
Search the courses, subjects, tracks, games and features, or jump straight to a page.
Learn it your way
A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
Sign up free to listen. Transcripts are free to read.
Is the tone of a poem the same as its mood?
I thought they were the same thing.
They are related but different. Tone is the attitude of the voice towards its subject. Mood is the feeling the poem creates in you.
So a poem could have a calm voice and still make me feel uneasy?
Exactly. A steady voice describing violence can unsettle a reader more than an angry one.
For 'Crow Tyrannosaurus' I would say the tone is stark and the mood is dark.
Good. Now we need evidence for both.
How does the poem create a stark tone?
Through hard, physical imagery that is not softened.
What about the words themselves?
Plain, hard-edged words with no decoration, which is typical of Hughes's Crow poems.
And the shape of the lines?
Free verse, with no regular rhyme, so the rhythm is rough and uncushioned.
Good. Imagery, diction and form all push the same way, and so does the lack of comfort.
Poems often shift tone. How should we check this one?
Read each stanza, note its tone, and see whether it changes.
Where might a change be likely?
Perhaps where human beings come into the poem, or at the close.
And if you find no change?
Then we say the tone is steady, and that the steadiness itself suggests the violence will not change.
That is an answer with an argument in it.
tone is the attitude of the poem's voice towards its subject, and mood is the feeling the poem creates in the reader.
stark, unsentimental and unflinching, with a possible grim irony that you should check for in your copy.
dark, ominous and unsettling, because violence is shown as part of existence and no comfort is offered.
imagery, diction, juxtaposition, free verse and the absence of consolation all work together.
give a precise tone word, evidence from a named stanza and the effect on the reader.
A tone sentence: the tone is unflinching, because the poem's stark imagery does not look away from violence, and the reader is made to share that refusal to look away.
A mood sentence: the mood is ominous, because setting a living bird beside a prehistoric predator in the title suggests a menace from deep in time that has never gone away.
Three tones for one scene: a tender account of a bird feeding would dwell on gentleness, a comic account would exaggerate and tease, and a stark account would state the facts plainly and leave the reader to react, which is the manner of this poem.
Tone is the voice and the way it speaks / mood is the feeling the reader keeps / stark and dark are the words to say / with evidence found along the way.
Imagine a calm newsreader reporting a terrible event without any change in voice. The calm tone makes the news feel colder, and your own feeling of dread is the mood. It is only a memory aid and is not a description of the poem's voice.
Tone is the Talker, Mood is the Mind: tone belongs to the voice and mood belongs to the reader's mind.
D.A.R.K. - Detached voice, Ancient menace, Raw images, Kindness absent
Term
What is tone?
Click to flip
Term
What is mood?
Click to flip
Term
What is the dominant tone of 'Crow Tyrannosaurus'?
Click to flip
Term
What is the dominant mood of the poem?
Click to flip
Term
What three parts make a good tone judgement?
Click to flip
The attitude of the voice of a poem towards its subject, such as stark, tender or mocking.
The feeling or atmosphere a poem creates in the reader, such as dread, calm or tension.
The general feeling of a place or situation in a text, built from setting, imagery and language; it is close in meaning to mood.
Bare, plain and unsoftened, with nothing added to make the subject easier to bear.
Showing no excess of pity or tender feeling; presenting things as they are.
Emotionally distant from the subject, reporting without showing involvement.
Suggesting that something threatening or harmful is coming.
A way of speaking or writing in which the meaning differs from, or is the opposite of, what is on the surface; it can produce a dark, mocking tone.
The tone of 'Crow Tyrannosaurus' is stark, unsentimental and grim, and its mood is dark, ominous and disturbing; both are created by hard imagery, plain diction, the pairing of Crow with Tyrannosaurus and the refusal to offer comfort.
Tone is the attitude the voice of a poem takes towards its subject, and mood is the feeling the poem creates in the reader. In this poem the tone is stark and unsentimental, because violence is presented without softening or apology. The mood is dark, ominous and unsettling, because the reader is made to see violence as part of existence, in nature and in human beings, with no consoling voice to settle the feeling. A strong answer names the tone and mood with precise words, supports each judgement with evidence from a named stanza and checks whether the tone changes.
Tone and mood: the difference. Tone belongs to the voice of the poem. It is the attitude shown towards the subject, for example admiring, mocking, tender or detached. Mood belongs to the reader's experience. It is the atmosphere or feeling that the poem produces, for example peaceful, tense or ominous. A poem can have a calm tone and a disturbing mood, because a steady voice describing violence can unsettle a reader more than an angry one.
The tone of the poem. The dominant tone is stark: bare and unadorned, with nothing to soften the violence. It is also unsentimental, since the poem shows no apology and no softening of what it presents, and unflinching, since it does not turn away. Some readers also hear a grim irony or dark humour, which is typical of the Crow poems. Decide from your copy whether you hear it and where.
The mood of the poem. The mood is dark, ominous and unsettling. The reader is made uneasy because violence is shown as a condition of existence and not as a rare event, and because the poem suggests that human beings share the instincts of the predators. Setting a living bird beside a prehistoric hunter in the title also creates a sense of an ancient menace that has never gone away.
How tone and mood are created.
Does the tone change? Poems often shift tone at a turning point. Read your copy for any change, for example between the opening and the close, or at the point where human beings enter the picture. If you find a shift, name the stanza and say what changes. If the tone stays steady, say so and explain that the steadiness is part of the effect: a voice that does not change while the violence continues suggests that the violence will not change either.
Choosing tone words. Precise words earn credit. Stark means bare and unsoftened. Grim means without hope or humour. Bleak means without comfort. Unflinching means not turning away. Detached means emotionally distant. Matter-of-fact means calm and plain. Ominous means suggesting danger to come. Sardonic means bitterly mocking. Avoid vague words such as sad or negative.
Supporting a judgement. Use three parts: the tone word, the evidence from a named stanza (an image, a word choice or a feature of form), and the effect on the reader. For example: the tone is unflinching, because the stark imagery does not look away from violence, and the reader is made to share that refusal to look away.