1. Understanding Mood and Tone in Text

2. Definition: The feeling or atmosphere of a story
Mood
Definition: The feeling or atmosphere of a story

3. Mood Where do you look to understand the mood? Setting
Author’s word choice

4. Mood Think of how these different settings evoke different feelings:
Haunted house
Tropical beach
Amusement park
Lawyer’s office
Battlefield

5. Mood Author’s use specific words for a reason! It’s not random!
Look at this excerpt from “Tears of Autumn” by Yoshiko Uchida
“Hana Omiya stood at the railing of the small ship that shuddered toward America in a turbulent November sea. She shivered as she pulled the folds of her silk kimono close to her throat and tightened the wool shawl around her shoulders.”

6. Mood Shuddered When do you shudder? Turbulent
What does turbulence feel like?
Shivered
When do you shiver?
pulled the folds of her silk kimono close to her throat…
Why would you do this?

7. Mood
SO, what’s the mood the author is trying to convey with these words?

8. Tone
The tone of a work is the author’s attitude toward his or her subject or the audience
You have to infer what the author’s attitude is by reading between the lines.

9. Tone Tone can be described in a single word.
Examples: formal, informal, serious, mysterious, humorous, annoyed, etc.

10. Tone
Read the poem “Lost Generation” by Jonathan Reed and determine the tone.

11. Mood vs. Tone How are mood and tone different?
Mood is how the reader feels; tone is the feeling the author expresses
How are mood and tone similar?
Both are found in the author’s word choice.

12. Let’s give it a try! Textbooks: page 68 “Grandma Ling” by Amy Ling
Using evidence from the poem, describe the mood the poem “Grandma Ling” expresses.

13. Let’s practice again
Page 72, “The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson” by Leo Tolstoy
Using evidence from the poem, describe the mood the vignette “The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson” expresses.

14. Comparing Tone
Do “Grandma Ling” and “The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson” share the same tone?
Explain how the tone of these two texts are different.