Tone

Tone is the writer’s attitude toward the subject, the mood created by all the elements in the poem. Writing, like speech, can be characterized as serious or light, sad or happy, private or public, angry or affectionate, bitter or nostalgic, or by any other attitudes and feelings that human beings experience. In Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner,” the tone is clearly serious; the voice in the poem even sounds dead. Listen again to the persona’s final words: “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.” The brutal, restrained matter-of-factness of this line is effective because the reader is called on to supply the appropriate anger and despair — a strategy that makes those emotions all the more convincing.

Consider how tone is used to convey meaning in the next poem, inspired by the poet’s contemplation of mortality.

Marilyn Nelson (b. 1946)

How I Discovered Poetry 1997

It was like soul-kissing, the way the words

filled my mouth as Mrs. Purdy read from her desk.

All the other kids zoned an hour ahead to 3:15,

but Mrs. Purdy and I wandered lonely as clouds borne

by a breeze off Mount Parnassus. She must have seen

the darkest eyes in the room brim: The next day

she gave me a poem she’d chosen especially for me

to read to the all except for me white class.

She smiled when she told me to read it, smiled harder,

said oh yes I could. She smiled harder and harder

until I stood and opened my mouth to banjo playing

darkies, pickaninnies, disses and dats. When I finished

my classmates stared at the floor. We walked silent

to the buses, awed by the power of words.

Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
  1. FIRST RESPONSE. Trace your response to Mrs. Purdy from the beginning to the end of the poem.
  2. How do you interpret the tone of the final two lines?

The next work is a dramatic monologue, a type of poem in which a character — the speaker — addresses a silent audience in such a way as to reveal unintentionally some aspect of his or her temperament or personality. What tone is created by Machan’s use of a persona?

Katharyn Howd Machan (b. 1952)

Hazel Tells LaVerne 1976

last night

im cleanin out my

howard johnsons ladies room

when all of a sudden

up pops this frog

musta come from the sewer

swimmin aroun an tryin ta

climb up the sida the bowl

so i goes ta flushm down

but sohelpmegod he starts talkin

bout a golden ball

an how i can be a princess

me a princess

well my mouth drops

all the way to the floor

an he says

kiss me just kiss me

once on the nose

well i screams

ya little green pervert

an i hitsm with my mop

an has ta flush

the toilet down three times

me

a princess

Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
  1. FIRST RESPONSE. What do you imagine the situation and setting are for this poem? Do you like this revision of the fairy tale “The Frog Prince”?
  2. What creates the poem’s humor? How does Hazel’s use of language reveal her personality? Is her treatment of the frog consistent with her character?
  3. Although it has no punctuation, this poem is easy to follow. How does the arrangement of the lines organize Hazel’s speech for clarity and emphasis?
  4. What is the theme? Is it conveyed through denotative or connotative language?
  5. CREATIVE RESPONSE. Write what you think might be LaVerne’s reply to Hazel. First, write LaVerne’s response as a series of ordinary sentences, and then try editing and organizing them into poetic lines.
Connection to Another Selection
  1. Although Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is a more complex poem than Machan’s, both use dramatic monologues to reveal character. How are the strategies in each poem similar?

Martín Espada (b. 1957)

Latin Night at the Pawnshop 1987

Chelsea, Massachusetts

Christmas, 1987

The apparition of a salsa band

gleaming in the Liberty Loan

pawnshop window:

Golden trumpet,

silver trombone,

congas, maracas, tambourine,

all with price tags dangling

like the city morgue ticket

on a dead man’s toe.

Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
  1. FIRST RESPONSE. What is “Latin” about this night at the pawnshop?
  2. What kind of tone is created by the poet’s word choice and by the poem’s rhythm?
  3. Does it matter that this apparition occurs on Christmas night? Why or why not?
  4. What do you think is the central point of this poem? How do the speaker’s attitude and tone change during the course of this next poem?

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)

The Character of Sir Robert Walpole 1731

With favour and fortune fastidiously1 blest,

He’s loud in his laugh and he’s coarse in his Jest;

Of favour and fortune unmerited vain,

A sharper in trifles, a dupe in the main.

Achieving of nothing, still promising wonders,

By dint of experience improving in Blunders;

Oppressing true merit, exalting the base,

And selling his Country to purchase his peace.

A Jobber of Stocks by retailing false news,

A prater at Court in the Stile of the Stews;

Of Virtue and worth by profession a giber,

Of Juries and senates the bully and briber.

Tho’ I name not the wretch you know who I mean,

T’is the Cur dog of Britain and spaniel of Spain.

Considerations for Critical Thinking and Writing
  1. FIRST RESPONSE. When did you first become aware of the speaker’s basic opinion of Sir Robert Walpole?
  2. Describe the speaker’s tone. How does it characterize the speaker as well as Walpole?
  3. CREATIVE RESPONSE. In line 12 Swift claims he does not name the wretch, but of course he does, in the title. Try imitating Swift’s tone and rhyme scheme and the length of the poem by writing an imitation of it about a recognizable public figure from our time. (Walpole was a powerful politician — the Chancellor of the Exchequer — and you may certainly choose a politician, but you might also think of an entertainer, sports figure, newsmaker, etc.)