Mood and Tone
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Lesson 1:
Directions: Analyze the excerpt for mood and tone. Identify the mood and tone as well as document the textual evidence that supports your observation using the chart below.
Directions: Analyze the excerpt for mood and tone. Identify the mood and tone as well as document the textual evidence that supports your observation using the chart below.
"Gentlemen:
I received your letter to-day by post, in regard to the ransom you ask for the return of my son. I think you are a little high in your demands, and I hereby make you a counter-proposition, which I am inclined to believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and I agree to take him off your hands. You had better come at night, for the neighbours believe he is lost, and I couldn't be responsible for what they would do to anybody they saw bringing him back. Very respectfully, EBENEZER DORSET" -O.Henry, "The Ransom of Red Chief" |
Lesson 2:
Directions: Analyze the pieces of art below for tone and mood. Identify the mood and tone as well as document the textual evidence that supports your observation using the Tone and Mood in Art chart. Make sure to look at the Visual Art Vocabulary for guidance.
Directions: Analyze the pieces of art below for tone and mood. Identify the mood and tone as well as document the textual evidence that supports your observation using the Tone and Mood in Art chart. Make sure to look at the Visual Art Vocabulary for guidance.
Lesson 3:
Directions: Analyze the excerpts for mood and tone. Identify the mood and tone as well as document the textual evidence that supports your observation in the charts provided with your excerpts.
Directions: Analyze the excerpts for mood and tone. Identify the mood and tone as well as document the textual evidence that supports your observation in the charts provided with your excerpts.
Lesson 4:
Directions: Choose one of the selections above. Complete the charts below using your chosen selection.
Directions: Choose one of the selections above. Complete the charts below using your chosen selection.
Lesson 5:
As you grow more aware of tone, you will discover that good authors rarely use only one tone. Below is a list to guide you as you search for shifts in tone:
Directions: In the following poem, annotate using DIDLS and the list above to note the shifts in tone. Provide evidence and commentary to support your claim.
As you grow more aware of tone, you will discover that good authors rarely use only one tone. Below is a list to guide you as you search for shifts in tone:
- key words (e.g., but, yet, nevertheless, however, although)
- punctuation (dashes, periods, semicolons)
- stanza and paragraph divisions
- changes in line and stanza or in sentence length
- sharp contrasts in diction
Directions: In the following poem, annotate using DIDLS and the list above to note the shifts in tone. Provide evidence and commentary to support your claim.
Lesson 6:
Directions: Use DIDLS to annotate the passages below and determine the author's tone. Refer to your Tone and Mood List for tone word options. Provide evidence and commentary to support your claim.
Directions: Use DIDLS to annotate the passages below and determine the author's tone. Refer to your Tone and Mood List for tone word options. Provide evidence and commentary to support your claim.
Lesson 7:
Directions: Carefully read the following passage from Walkabout, by James Vance Marshall and annotate using DIDLS. This book is about two Caucasian children who become lost in the Australian Outback and are rescued by an Aborigine boy. This passage describes one of the many Australian animals they encounter on their journey at a time when the children feel discouraged, lost, hungry, and frightened.
When you have finished reading, write a paragraph analyzing the tone of the passage. IN the first sentence, tell your reader what feelings you think the author is trying to create through his use of diction, imagery, and details. Then using specific examples and short quotations from the text, explain specifically how the author uses language to create these feelings. End your paragraph with several statements about the passage's overall meaning.
Directions: Carefully read the following passage from Walkabout, by James Vance Marshall and annotate using DIDLS. This book is about two Caucasian children who become lost in the Australian Outback and are rescued by an Aborigine boy. This passage describes one of the many Australian animals they encounter on their journey at a time when the children feel discouraged, lost, hungry, and frightened.
When you have finished reading, write a paragraph analyzing the tone of the passage. IN the first sentence, tell your reader what feelings you think the author is trying to create through his use of diction, imagery, and details. Then using specific examples and short quotations from the text, explain specifically how the author uses language to create these feelings. End your paragraph with several statements about the passage's overall meaning.
Lesson 8:
Directions: After reading Hazel Tells Laverne, follow the directions on the document to complete your lesson in tone.
Lesson 9:
Read and think: ....Yes, one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it....You fix up for the drought; you leave your umbrella in the house and sally out with your sprinkling-pot, and ten to one you get drowned. You make up your mind the earthquake is due; you stand from under and take hold of something to steady yourself, and the first thing you know, you get struck by lightning. These are great disappointments. But they can’t be helped. The lightning there is peculiar; it is so convincing! When it strikes a thing, it doesn’t leave enough of that thing behind for you to tell whether – well, you’d think it was something valuable, and a Congressman had been there. And the thunder. When the thunder commences to merely tune up, and scrape, and saw, and key up the instruments for the performance, strangers say “Why, what awful thunder you have here!” But when the baton is raised and the real concert begins, you’ll find that stranger down in the cellar, with his head in the ash barrel....I could speak volumes about the inhuman perversity of the New England weather, but I will give but a single specimen. I like to hear rain on a tin roof, so I covered part of my roof with tin, with an eye to that luxury. Well, sir, do you think it ever rains on the tin? No, sir; skips it every time. -Mark Twain, "The Weather," Address at the New England Society's Seventy First Annual Dinner, New York City, Speeches of Mark Twain
Talk about it:
1. This passage is from the first part of a speech by Mark Twain about New England weather. What is the tone of the passage? Brainstorm one words that fit this passage and add new words to your "Tone Words" List.
2. How do you know the tone of this passage? Use the following chart to fill in the evidence for what you identify as the tone of this passage. Discuss your chart.
Read and think: ....Yes, one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it....You fix up for the drought; you leave your umbrella in the house and sally out with your sprinkling-pot, and ten to one you get drowned. You make up your mind the earthquake is due; you stand from under and take hold of something to steady yourself, and the first thing you know, you get struck by lightning. These are great disappointments. But they can’t be helped. The lightning there is peculiar; it is so convincing! When it strikes a thing, it doesn’t leave enough of that thing behind for you to tell whether – well, you’d think it was something valuable, and a Congressman had been there. And the thunder. When the thunder commences to merely tune up, and scrape, and saw, and key up the instruments for the performance, strangers say “Why, what awful thunder you have here!” But when the baton is raised and the real concert begins, you’ll find that stranger down in the cellar, with his head in the ash barrel....I could speak volumes about the inhuman perversity of the New England weather, but I will give but a single specimen. I like to hear rain on a tin roof, so I covered part of my roof with tin, with an eye to that luxury. Well, sir, do you think it ever rains on the tin? No, sir; skips it every time. -Mark Twain, "The Weather," Address at the New England Society's Seventy First Annual Dinner, New York City, Speeches of Mark Twain
Talk about it:
1. This passage is from the first part of a speech by Mark Twain about New England weather. What is the tone of the passage? Brainstorm one words that fit this passage and add new words to your "Tone Words" List.
2. How do you know the tone of this passage? Use the following chart to fill in the evidence for what you identify as the tone of this passage. Discuss your chart.
Now you try it: Write a paragraph about the weather in your part of the country. In your paragraph, create a tone similar to Twain's. Pay careful attention to the elements of voice that create the tone.
Lesson 10:
Read and think: Mind, in this speech I have been trying merely to do honor to the New England weather; no language could do it justice. But after all, there are at least one or two things about that weather (or, if you please, effects produced by it) which we residents would not like to part with. If we had not our bewitching autumn foliage, we should still have to credit the weather with one feature which compensates for all its bullying vagaries – the ice-storm – when a leafless tree is clothed with ice from bottom to top – ice that is as bright and clear as crystal; every bough and twig is strung with ice-beads, frozen dew-drops; and the whole tree sparkles, cold and white, like the Shah of Persia’s diamond plume. Then the wind waves the branches, and the sun comes out and turns all those myriads of beads and drops to prisms, that glow and hum and flash with all manner of colored fires, which change and change again, with inconceivable rapidity, from blue to red, from red to green, and green to gold; the tree becomes a sparkling fountain, a very explosion of dazzling jewels; and it stands there the acme, the climax, the supremest possibility in art or nature of bewildering, intoxicating, intolerable magnificence! One cannot make the words too strong. -Mark Twain, "The Weather," Address at the New England Society's Seventy First Annual Dinner, New York City, Speeches of Mark Twain
Talk about it:
1. This passage is the second part of a speech by Mark Twain about New England weather. What is the tone of this part of the speech? What tone words describe this passage? If you think of new words, add them to the "Tone Words" list.
2. How does Twain create a new tone in this part of his speech? What transition marks the change? Underline the diction, detail, imagery, and figurative language that help create the tone. Discuss how the syntax in this passage helps create the tone.
Now you try it: Look at the description of weather your wrote in the previous exercise. Now shift the tone as describe something particularly beautiful you can experience in the weather in your part of the country. Use Twain's passage as a model and pay particular attention to diction, detail, figurative language, and imagery.
Lesson 10:
Read and think: Mind, in this speech I have been trying merely to do honor to the New England weather; no language could do it justice. But after all, there are at least one or two things about that weather (or, if you please, effects produced by it) which we residents would not like to part with. If we had not our bewitching autumn foliage, we should still have to credit the weather with one feature which compensates for all its bullying vagaries – the ice-storm – when a leafless tree is clothed with ice from bottom to top – ice that is as bright and clear as crystal; every bough and twig is strung with ice-beads, frozen dew-drops; and the whole tree sparkles, cold and white, like the Shah of Persia’s diamond plume. Then the wind waves the branches, and the sun comes out and turns all those myriads of beads and drops to prisms, that glow and hum and flash with all manner of colored fires, which change and change again, with inconceivable rapidity, from blue to red, from red to green, and green to gold; the tree becomes a sparkling fountain, a very explosion of dazzling jewels; and it stands there the acme, the climax, the supremest possibility in art or nature of bewildering, intoxicating, intolerable magnificence! One cannot make the words too strong. -Mark Twain, "The Weather," Address at the New England Society's Seventy First Annual Dinner, New York City, Speeches of Mark Twain
Talk about it:
1. This passage is the second part of a speech by Mark Twain about New England weather. What is the tone of this part of the speech? What tone words describe this passage? If you think of new words, add them to the "Tone Words" list.
2. How does Twain create a new tone in this part of his speech? What transition marks the change? Underline the diction, detail, imagery, and figurative language that help create the tone. Discuss how the syntax in this passage helps create the tone.
Now you try it: Look at the description of weather your wrote in the previous exercise. Now shift the tone as describe something particularly beautiful you can experience in the weather in your part of the country. Use Twain's passage as a model and pay particular attention to diction, detail, figurative language, and imagery.
Read and think: Mind, in this speech I have been trying merely to do honor to the New England weather; no language could do it justice. But after all, there are at least one or two things about that weather (or, if you please, effects produced by it) which we residents would not like to part with. If we had not our bewitching autumn foliage, we should still have to credit the weather with one feature which compensates for all its bullying vagaries – the ice-storm – when a leafless tree is clothed with ice from bottom to top – ice that is as bright and clear as crystal; every bough and twig is strung with ice-beads, frozen dew-drops; and the whole tree sparkles, cold and white, like the Shah of Persia’s diamond plume. Then the wind waves the branches, and the sun comes out and turns all those myriads of beads and drops to prisms, that glow and hum and flash with all manner of colored fires, which change and change again, with inconceivable rapidity, from blue to red, from red to green, and green to gold; the tree becomes a sparkling fountain, a very explosion of dazzling jewels; and it stands there the acme, the climax, the supremest possibility in art or nature of bewildering, intoxicating, intolerable magnificence! One cannot make the words too strong. -Mark Twain, "The Weather," Address at the New England Society's Seventy First Annual Dinner, New York City, Speeches of Mark Twain
Talk about it:
1. This passage is the second part of a speech by Mark Twain about New England weather. What is the tone of this part of the speech? What tone words describe this passage? If you think of new words, add them to the "Tone Words" list.
2. How does Twain create a new tone in this part of his speech? What transition marks the change? Underline the diction, detail, imagery, and figurative language that help create the tone. Discuss how the syntax in this passage helps create the tone.
Now you try it: Look at the description of weather your wrote in the previous exercise. Now shift the tone as describe something particularly beautiful you can experience in the weather in your part of the country. Use Twain's passage as a model and pay particular attention to diction, detail, figurative language, and imagery.
Lesson 12:
Read and think: My mother, I suppose, attracted the attention of a purchaser who was afterward my owner and hers. Her addition to the slave family attracted about as much attention as the purchase of a new horse or cow. Of my father I know even less than of my mother. I do not even know his name. I have heard reports to the effect that he was a white man who lived on one of the near-by plantations. Whoever he was, I never heard of his taking the least interest in me or providing in any way for my rearing. But I do not find especial fault with him. He was simply another unfortunate victim of the institution which the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that time.
-Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery: An Autobiography
Talk about it:
1. What is the tone of the passage? Think carefully about this; it may not be obvious on the first reading.
2. How does Washington use syntax to create the tone of this passage?
Now you try it: Write a sentence about your favorite team losing a soccer game. This sentence should be matter of fact, with a neutral, nonjudgmental tone. Now write a sentence about your team losing has has an angry, judgmental tone. Pay attention to how you create the tone.
Lesson 13:
Read and think: OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer* has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer, but if it is a good word and has no exact modern equivalent equally good, it is good enough for the good writer. -Ambrose Pierce, The Devil's Dictionary
*someone who writes dictionaries
Talk about it:
1. Look up the definition of "obsolete" in a regular dictionary. Now read Bierce's definition again. How are the two definitions different?
2. What is Bierce's attitude toward someone defining words as obsolete? How do you know? Explain how Bierce's diction helps you identify his attitude.
Now you try it: Write a short definition of homework. In your definition, choose words that clearly reveal your attitude toward homework. Use Bierce's definition as a model.
Read and think: OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer* has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer, but if it is a good word and has no exact modern equivalent equally good, it is good enough for the good writer. -Ambrose Pierce, The Devil's Dictionary
*someone who writes dictionaries
Talk about it:
1. Look up the definition of "obsolete" in a regular dictionary. Now read Bierce's definition again. How are the two definitions different?
2. What is Bierce's attitude toward someone defining words as obsolete? How do you know? Explain how Bierce's diction helps you identify his attitude.
Now you try it: Write a short definition of homework. In your definition, choose words that clearly reveal your attitude toward homework. Use Bierce's definition as a model.
Lesson 14:
Read and think: I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. -Abraham Lincoln , "From an Address to an Indiana Regiment. March, 17, 1865," Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865
Talk about it:
1. What is Lincoln's attitude toward slavery? How does he convey this attitude?
2. How would the tone and power of the passage change if it were written like this?
I believe in freedom. If anyone argues for slavery, he should become a slave himself.
Now you try it: Write a sentence about bullying modeled after Lincoln's first sentence above. Try to use the same tone as Lincoln does.
Read and think: I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. -Abraham Lincoln , "From an Address to an Indiana Regiment. March, 17, 1865," Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln, 1832-1865
Talk about it:
1. What is Lincoln's attitude toward slavery? How does he convey this attitude?
2. How would the tone and power of the passage change if it were written like this?
I believe in freedom. If anyone argues for slavery, he should become a slave himself.
Now you try it: Write a sentence about bullying modeled after Lincoln's first sentence above. Try to use the same tone as Lincoln does.