Tone in Poetry Practice

Look at the poem Ellis Park by Helen Hoyt. Which of the following best describes the poem's tone.

• Happy - the speaker is having a great time playing in the park.

• Appreciative - The speaker is thankful she gets to walk through the park and bring the experience with her into the city.

• Calm - the speaker is chilling in the park.

Read the quotes from Ellis Park and answer the question below:

To make city ways more fair, I take your trees, And your breeze ... Your space for room in the jostled street And grass for carpet to my feet.

What is most likely the meaning behind the author contrasting the city and the park?

• The author is showing how her time in the city is improved by her memory of the park.

• The author is emphasizing how bad and horrible the city is.

• The author is showing how much she hates her job and wishes she could be in the park instead.

Read the poem In Trouble and Shame by D.H. Lawrence.

In this poem, one could say there is a change in tone. In the beginning, the speaker is wishing he could go into the sunset so that he could leave his shame, pain, and body behind. At the end of the poem, he's imagining how he would feel if he was able to do so. How does the tone change?

• The poem moves from calm and relaxed looking at the sunset to painful and anguished after having stepped through.

• The poem moves from ashamed and burdened to relieved and happy -imagining his problems gone.

• As the poem goes on, the speaker sinks deeper and deeper into despair because he knows he can never get rid of his shame and pain.

Read the excerpt from In Trouble and Shame below:

I wish that I could go / Through the red doors where I could put off / My shame like shoes in the porch / My pain like garments

Which of the following best match the tone of these lines?

• Happy and joyful

• Tired and weary; longing

• Calm and relieved

Read the excerpt from In Trouble and Shame below:

Then I would turn round / And seeing my cast-off body lying like lumber, / I would laugh with joy

Which of the following best match the tone of these lines?

• Happy and joyful

• Tired and weary; longing

• Calm and relieved

Read the poem Prelude by Richard Aldington.

In this poem, there are competing tones. The speaker loves his significant other, but, at the same time, does not feel like he is enough for them. Which of the following words best fit these tones?

• Apathetic and uncaring; disinterested

• Angry and vengeful; calm and resigned

• Passionate and loving, but also insecure

• Sad and regretful, but admiring

Read the excerpt from the poem Prelude by Richard Aldington.

How could I love you more? / I try to think of one lovely gift / No lover yet in all the world has found / ... hot with love as I am ...

Which tone best matches this excerpt?

• Apathetic and uncaring

• calm and resigned

• Passionate and loving

• Sad and regretful

Read the excerpt from the poem Prelude by Richard Aldington.

You should have loved a god; I am but dust ...

Which tone best matches this excerpt?

• Insecure; feeling inadequate

• calm and accepting

• Passionate and loving

• Sullen and moping

Read the poem Lone Dog by Irene Rutherford McLeod. Which tone is the best match for this poem?

• Weak and unsure

• Sad and regretful

• Proud and independent

• Passionate and caring

Read the excerpt from the poem Lone Dog by Irene Rutherford McLeod.

O mine is still the lone trail, the hard trail, the best, / Wide wind, and wild stars, and hunger of the quest!

What is most likely the meaning behind these lines?

• Even though it is hard to be alone, it is still the best way to live because of the excitement and freedom.

• Because the trail is hard and she must do it alone, she regrets her decision because she's hungry in wild lands.