Tone & Mood

1. Tone & Mood • Whenever 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.

2. Mood • The overall atmosphere, or emotional effect thatthe text creates for the audience • Mood 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

3. 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

4. Tone • The speaker’s attitude or emotional state • Tone 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)

5. Examples of Tones • Adoring • Affectionate • Approving • Calm • Casual • Cheerful • Comforting • Confident • Ecstatic • Humorous • Hopeful • Lively • Playful • Passionate • Proud • Friendly • Gushy • Whimsical • Worshipful • Romantic • Relaxed • Respectful • Indifferent • Angry • Biting • Bossy • Cold • Evil • Demanding • Creepy • Miserable • Melancholy • Thoughtful • Psychotic • Sarcastic • Sly • Somber • Fearful • Frantic • Cruel • Grim • Tragic

6. Tone Practice For each poem, write down: • What the tone is • Evidence (examples) that show this is the tone

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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; 

11. 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.

12. 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. 

13. Tone Practice Each 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.

14. Ex: Tone: Melancholy Situation: 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.”

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

16. 2. Tone: Joyous Situation: You have just discovered you have a super power.

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