The attitude or feeling a poet conveys through word choice and style.
Tone is the attitude or feeling a poet conveys through their word choice, rhythm, and style. It's how the poem "sounds" emotionally — the mood the poet creates for the reader.
Tone can be angry, sad, hopeful, sarcastic, playful, serious, reverent, bitter, nostalgic, and much more. A single poem can shift tone multiple times, creating emotional complexity and surprise.
Tone is created through specific choices: the words selected (formal vs. casual, harsh vs. gentle), the sentence structure (short and clipped vs. long and flowing), imagery, and even punctuation. Reading a poem aloud is one of the best ways to identify its tone.
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