Exploring: Tone
The tone of a literary work is an attitude toward a particular subject and/or
audience. The tone can often be described by a single adjective such as formal,
informal, serious, playful, intimate, solemn, somber, ironic, condescending or any
of the other possible attitudes. Tone adds to the effect of a literary work.
Specifically, tone works to help create the mood (feeling created by a piece of
work, what the reader may feel) of a story.
Writers carefully choose words and phrases to convey a tone. To determine the
tone, students should examine the author’s words and think about the feelings
created by them. For example, if someone were saying these words, how would
you describe their attitude?
Consider this: when you are pleased with someone what tone of voice do you use
with them? How about when you are frustrated with them? When you speak this
way, what mood is created in the room? Do you see how tone and mood are
related?
The same way you are able to change the sound of your voice to adjust to create a
certain tone, authors use certain words to change the tone in a piece of literature.
Each story, poem, book you read has a certain tone. In fact, within a story or poem
the tone can change several times.
Practice: Circle, underline, or otherwise record the descriptive words in this poem
that evoke certain feelings.
“Jenny Kissed Me” by Leigh Hunt Jenny kiss’d me when we met, Jumping from the chair she sat in; Time, you thief, who love to get Sweets into your list, put that in! Say I’m weary, say I’m sad, Say that health and wealth have miss’d me, Say I’m growing old, but add, Jenny kiss’d me. Next, in the margins or in your notes, close to the words you’ve identified, write
descriptions of the tone for each section of this poem. Compare your tone
descriptors with the tone map below.
Tone Map: “Jenny Kissed Me” by Leigh Hunt
Section
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief,
who love to get
Sweets into your list,
Put that in!
Say I’m weary,
Say I’m sad,
Say that health and wealth have
Tone
Fond reminiscence
Amused, affectionate
Still amused (now by Time, rather than
by Jenny), but growing a little wary, a
little scornful
Disdainful
Shrugging
Candid, a little sad
Lightly or playfully regretful
Missed me,
Say I’m growing old
But add,
Jenny kissed me.
Real regret
Rallying, insistent
Marveling, contented
Your job is to identify at least two different tones in your Poetry Out Loud poem
choice. In order to find words that help to define a certain tone, look for modifiers
(describing words). Pay close attention to any description of setting, action, or the
speaker’s feelings.
Use the speaker’s descriptions to come up with an adjective that describes an
overall attitude for that section. The adjective you use is the tone of that piece of
the poem. Remember: as long as you can ‘prove’ the tone you use with actual
examples from the text, there’s no wrong answer!
Name:
Date:
Godwin
Period:
Poem Title:
Poet:
Tone Map:
Section
Tone