#8 Tone and Mood

The tone of ones voice generally sets the mood of the novel as well as reflects upon the mood of the individual speaking. Hamlet speaks with a worry indecisive tone that wavers between life and death. This then sets a mood of despair and suspense throughout the entire novel as the reader watches hamlet evaluate his own existence. Tone and mood are inherently connected, one cannot exist without the other. This is most apparent in emotions of characters, where there mood reflects upon their tone. Sad words to unhappy feelings and vice versa. When hamlet Speaks to ophelia at the play, he sounds crazy, speaking unlike himself, and thus the mood of the environment around him is also chaotic.

Imagery

      Imagery in poetry is essential to creating an environment the reader can place them self in. In William  Stafford's "Traveling through the Dark," imagery is used to represent an underlying theme of being able to let go. Though describing the death of a pregnant dear, its passing on can be related to the loss of a loved one. "She had stiffened already, almost cold." Stafford begins describing the deer with the term "cold," reflecting on its lifeless body, moreover, the more spiritual aspect that the deers soul has left her body; however, when describing her belly: "her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting," he portrays the incapability of letting go to the dead deer. Though she is literally dead, fugitively part of her remains alive. His "hot and cold" imagery sets the tone of a limbo, where the speaker is in fact questioning the reality of the dead deer. He ends with pushing her off to the side, but the buildup to that action is key to the meaning of life and death.

SOUND: of woodchucks being gasses

Maxine Kumin's Woodchucks is a peculiar poem in that it plays on the act of killing with al light hearted approach. Its ABCACB rhyme scheme keeps the poem flowing, almost like a melody. This contrasts the underlying meaning of the poem and its allusion in the end of Nazi Germany and the gassing of the jews. This in part ease in sound and flow reflects upon the ease of the nazis to perform a genocide with out questioning the authority how commanded it. Quick, quiet, easy, and had to be done. Luckily for the wood chucks, the whole gassing situation "didn't turn out right."