To describe the tone  of a poem is to describe the emotional state of the author as it can be inferred from that poem, with, as we discussed in class, attention not just to the general kind of emotion (positive, negative, neutral), but to its particular nature, intensity, and occasion.  In English there are many words to describe emotional states.  It may be useful to think of these concepts in groups, in order to identify the specific nuance of feeling each one names, and also to understand different ways in which words with the same general denotation can differ from each other.

We could call this a band or orchestra of terms.  Just as an orchestra has different families of instruments, which differ among themselves in different ways, so our concepts of emotional states occur in related groups, and the specific meaning we have in mind when we use one word or another for these tones or moods is often clearer when we realize what other related terms are less appropriate for that meaning.

For instance, a neutral emotional state might be called "acceptance" or "contentment" or "resignation"--with "acceptance" as the term that gives away the least hint of pleasure or displeasure, "resignation" suggesting that a negative feeling would have been possible, "contentment" moving in the direction of such mildly happy terms as "comfortable," "pleased," etc. Terms for a state can also differ depending on whether the emotion in question is related to the way things are now or to ideas about what they may be in the future; for instance, "anticipation" is the name for expecting what may be either good or bad; "hope" is the name for expecting better things.

For this exercise, try to complete the outline of our tonal "orchestra" by distinguishing the different concepts within each general state of feeling, words that identify the same concept but with different connotative value, and different ways in which words and concepts can differ.  Example: "complacency" is another term that might be used to describe an emotional state that could be called "contentment"; using "complacency" to describe the tone of a poem would suggest that the critic disapproved of the poet's contentment.  (Note that if a poet presents a character as complacent and invites us to condemn the character, the tone of the poem would be described as ironic, angry, bitter, etc.--not complacent.)

Below  I have tried to list  the basic categories: think of and discriminate among as many different subcategories and varieties as you can, using different English words.

Don't cite as different categories the same term differently modified, e.g., don't list "happy" and "very happy" or "happy" and "undeservedly happy." But if we have different words for different degrees of an emotion, do list them--for instance, the word that comes to mind for the greatest degree of happiness would be, I suspect, "ecstacy" or "exaltation."  In some cases we may agree to disagree about the placement of a term: for instance, is "peacefulness" a kind of happiness or a kind of neutrality, or perhaps both with different shades of meaning?  Incidentally, you cannot finish your outline right here on this page--you'll need more space.

A. Happiness
B. Acceptance
C. Anger
D. Sadness
E. Fear
G. Irony (=recognition of discrepancy between the way things are and the way things should be)
H. Ambiguity (inability on the part of the poet to define feeling and/or the way things are; indecision between two or more possibilities)
I. ?  (Have I left something out?)

Note: you may work with someone else on this, and we will work in groups in class.