Tone in poetry creates the mood or attitude towards the subject. It is established through word choice and imagery, and can be used to set the mood. Edgar Allen Poe is known for his use of a dark or haunting tone. Two poems about the same subject can have different tones and create different moods.
The function of tone in poetry is largely intended to create the mood or feel of a poem for the reader. Tone typically allows a poet to control how a poem is to be read or the attitude the speaker of the poem takes towards the subject of the poem. You could both write two poems about a flower, for example, but with two very different tones used to make one poem very positive and the other a much more depressing work. The way a poet controls tone is typically through word choice and imagery.
Tone in poetry, just like other works of literature, refers to the general attitude that seems to be expressed within the work and the mood this creates. It is important to note, however, that tone and mood are not synonymous, but that tone is usually used as a way of setting mood in a work. Tone can be established and developed in many different ways, depending on how the poem is written and how well established the speaker is within the structure of the poem.
The works of Edgar Allen Poe, for example, are renowned as examples of excellent displays of a dark or haunting tone in poetry. Poe often creates this tone by establishing a speaker within the poem, often using a first-person point of view, and using the speaker’s choice of word and voice. The use of words such as “fear”, “terror”, “panic”, revulsion and “horror” can be used to quickly and unmistakably establish a sense of paranoia or dread in a work. By manipulating tone in poetry, poets like Poe are able to establish a particular mood for a poem and express that mood without actually telling the reader that they feel that way.
Two poems, for example, might both be written about a flower, but the tone of each poem might be very different and set different moods for each poem. The first poem might describe the flower as “tall and radiant, with crimson petals that gleamed with the languid glow of the morning dew”; this one uses a romantic tone to create a positive mood. A similar flower in another poem, however, might be described as “twisting from the ground like the knotty claw of a buried simian predator, its scarlet petals gleaming like the floor of a slaughterhouse”; this one uses a sinister tone to create a very negative mood. Both of these statements describe a red flower, but by manipulating the tone of each example, the mood established by the description becomes very different.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
