TONE & MOOD

Tone can best described as

• attitude of the reader

• the author's attitude towards his writing

• reader's point of view

The tone and mood of a text can be very different

• TRUE

• FALSE

If an author has no emotion regarding the story he is telling, his tone can be described as

• sarcastic

• playful

• mysterious

• objective

Read the following poem, "A Birthday" by Christina Rossetti and answer the question below.

My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is a weathered shoot;

My heart is like an apple-tree

Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit; My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon [peaceful] sea;

My heart is gladder than all these

Because my love is come to me.

QUESTION: What mood do the details of the poem convey?

(Look specifically at the three things the speaker compares her heart to.)

• Sorrow

• Happiness

• Excitement

• Nervousness

There go the loves that wither [dry up], The old loves with wearier wings;

And all dead years draw thither [there] And disastrous things;

Dead dreams of days forsaken, Blind buds that snows have shaken, Wild leaves that winds have taken,

Red strays of ruined springs. ...

And love, grown faint and fretful With lips but half regretful

Sighs, and with eyes forgetful Weeps that no loves endure [last].

QUESTION: What mood do the details in the poem convey?

• Mistrust

• Sadness and despair

• Wastefulness and excess

• Happiness

Which tone is represented in the following passage?

Wow! With a top speed of one hundred fifty miles per hour, that car can almost fly!

• Annoyed

• Excited

• Scary

• Calm

What is the tone of the following passage?

The alarm buzzed. Jordan smashed her fist down on it--hard. It flew off the nightstand and bounced off her cat, Armstrong. The cat yowled indignantly and rocketed out the room

• Sarcastic

• Humorous

• Passionate

• Eerie