Tone and Mood aka MR. TAA

Mr.=Mood is to ReaderTaa=Tone is author’s attitude

I’m Mr. TAA daa!

I’m Mr. TAA daa!

Borrowed and modified from www.slps.org

This power point should take us about 10-15 minutes if you listen and pay attention. You only need to discuss with your table partner and as a class. Let the guest teacher finish this promptly.

You have the rest of class to finish your class work 35 minutes.

And after you finish the class work you can work on your homework Miss Roberts assigned. STAAR test next week!

Tone is the author’s attitude toward the subject, the characters or the readers, which is revealed by the author’s word choice. (HOW THEY SAY WHAT THEY SAY)

 Tone word: Insincere Explain: While Williams attempts to say he is

sorry, “Forgive me” (ln. 9), the insincerity of his apology is evident as he waits to ask for forgiveness until the last stanza of the poem. Additionally, he goes on to explain how good the plums were that she was saving for breakfast “they were delicious/so sweet/and so cold” (ln. 10-12). That he rubs in how good the plums were shows he wasn’t sincere in his “apology.”

If only there were some decent jobs out

there, I wouldn’t be reduced to living in this miserable dump. This place is shabby and needs major repairs. Ugh, the no good landlord is always late.

This isn’t the greatest apartment in the world, but it’s not really that bad. If only I could find some decent jobs out there, I wouldn’t be reduced to living in this old building. I’ll find a good one sooner or later. This place does need some repairs, but I’m sure the landlord will be making improvements sometime soon. For now it’s home and it will do just fine.

Mood is the feeling a piece of literature arouses in the reader. It is the atmosphere created by the author. Some literature makes us feel happy, sad, angry, etc

Mood is often created by setting, but word choice is important too!

“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe

During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing along, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher…I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwelling…[with] vacant and eye-like windows.

Mood word: Depressing

Explanation: The setting of this short story is at a house that is described as melancholy. Additionally, the day is “dull, dark, and soundless”. The depressing word choice here creates a feeling of sadness. Additionally, the story is set in autumn, a time of year when the leaves are “dying” and the summer is “dying”.

“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck

A water snake glided smoothly up the pool, twisting its periscope head from side to side; and it swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the head, and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically.

Mr.=Mood is to ReaderTaa=Tone is author’s attitude

I’m Mr. TAA daa!

I’m Mr. TAA daa!

• Complete the Tone and Mood worksheet – due at the end of class.

• Complete the worksheet over tone and mood. See you tomorrow!