1. Mood
Objective:
You will be expected to identify the mood of a text and explain how you were able to determine the mood.
You need to pay attention to how writers create mood in a story.

2. Mood Literary Definition:
The mood is the overall feeling or atmosphere that an author creates for readers through words and images.
Mood

3. Authors use the following to create mood in a story:
Sensory Details: Details that appeal to your senses - sight, taste, smell, hearing, touch
Images: Word pictures that you can visualize
Figurative Language: Descriptive writing that is not mean to be taken literally, but is used to make a point and keep the writing interesting.

4. Types of Figurative Language
Simile: A comparison between two very different things using the words “like” or “as”
Example: The soccer player was like a cheetah as he ran up and down the field
Metaphor: A comparison between two very different things that does not use “like” or “as”
Example: The test was a monster that scared everybody.
Personification: Giving human-like qualities to inanimate objects.
Example: The crashing waves laughed at the surfers trying to catch a ride, as if to make fun of anyone attempting such a challenge.
Types of Figurative Language

5. Words to Describe Mood Positive Mood Negative Mood Light-hearted
Playful
Optimistic
Warm
Hopeful
Nostalgic
Peaceful
Welcoming
Trustful
Empowering
Joyous
Sentimental
Cheery
Euphoric
Loving
Nurturing
Zealous
Tense
Gloomy
Violent
Pessimistic
Cold
Hopeless
Haunting
Hostile
Suspenseful
Foreboding
Threatening
Desolate
Barren
Empty
Bleak
Vengeful
Lonely
Suspicious

6. Pretend you’re writing about this scene and you want to create a POSITIVE mood. Let’s think of words and phrases to create a positive mood.
Write a sentence that uses either sensory detail, imagery or sensory detail that creates a positive mood.

7. The water was as clear as a bright blue sapphire, sparkling and gleaming with each and every movement of its current.

8. I could feel the sun’s golden rays beating down, freckling my skin, as if it were leaving tiny gifts as a reminder of its glowing and comforting presence.

9. The gloriously unique smell of the ocean and the salty air that created a small crispness to my skin make me feel as if I’d escaped to a heavenly oasis.

10. Pretend you’re writing about this scene and you want to create a NEGATIVE mood. Let’s think of words and phrases to create a negative mood.
Write a sentence that uses either sensory detail, imagery or sensory detail that creates a negative mood.

14. How does the following passage make you feel? What is the mood?

15. “They were standing in a sunlit field, and the air about them was moving with the delicious fragrance that comes only on the rarest of spring days when the sun’s touch is gentle and the apple blossoms are just beginning to unfold.” (67)
Imagery
Sensory Detail - Smell & Taste
Personification
Sensory Detail - Touch

16. “They were standing in a sunlit field, and the air about them was moving with the delicious fragrance that comes only on the rarest of spring days when the sun’s touch is gentle and the apple blossoms are just beginning to unfold.” (67)
Peaceful mood

17. “Meg knelt at her mother’s feet
“Meg knelt at her mother’s feet. The warmth and light of the kitchen had relaxed her so that her attic fears were gone. The cocoa steamed fragrantly in the saucepan; geraniums bloomed on the window sills and there was a bouquet of tiny yellow chrysanthemums in the center of the table. The curtains, red, with a blue and green geometrical pattern were drawn and seemed to reflect their cheerfulness throughout the room. The furnace purred like a great, sleepy animal; the lights glowed with steady radiance…” (16)
Sensory
Sensory
Imagery
Imagery
Imagery
Personification
Personification
Simile
Imagery

18. “Meg knelt at her mother’s feet
“Meg knelt at her mother’s feet. The warmth and light of the kitchen had relaxed her so that her attic fears were gone. The cocoa steamed fragrantly in the saucepan; geraniums bloomed on the window sills and there was a bouquet of tiny yellow chrysanthemums in the center of the table. The curtains, red, with a blue and green geometrical pattern were drawn and seemed to reflect their cheerfulness throughout the room. The furnace purred like a great, sleepy animal; the lights glowed with steady radiance…” (16)
This mood is comforting with the sense of warmth that we get from the words and phrases.