Comments

I can recall the idea of "tone" being very hard to grasp and discuss when I studied poetry as a young student. Even today after working with language and literature for 35 years, my sense that "tone" is difficult to explain remains. One may be sensitive to tone without being able to define precisely what one is noticing that tells one the poem is angry or bitter or stoic or awe struck. Moreover, we are often aware that tones can shift and be directed toward different elements that comprise the poem. One way to gain entry into the subtleties of tone is to remember that tone is a matter of voice. Tone speaks. When we are told by our parents that they don't like the tone of voice we are using, they mean the way we are saying what we are saying--the sarcastic "sorry" or the angry "all right!" Tone is what allows us to say a word such as "well" in many different ways--each of which might announce a different mood or interpretation of a situation. In life, the interpretation of tone is supported by other cues or clues, a raised eyebrow or the tilt of one's head. In writing we do not have such cues.

How can a reader tell if one is on the right track with tone? We can recall the advice the Norton editors gave us regarding symbols. It has applicability to this question. We look for evidence in various places so that a pattern is formed. We look for support in the images and what they suggest, in the language itself, the words chosen and their connotations, in the rhythm and syntax and its effects. In short, the poem as a totality supports the tone. That is why assessment of tone is such an art itself; one is noticing the "how" of the poem in addition to its content or "what" of the poem. Nevertheless, one can give expression to the voice or speaker of the poem as one reads it and hear the tones that it invites in one's own voice. This is, in my estimation, one great avenue into the tone of a poem. Therefore I ask students to try to discover tone in the act of reading aloud.