#8 Tone/Mood

Although tone and mood can often be categorizes as being similar, the two are very different and represent emotions felt by the speaker and by the reader. Tone represents the speaker’s attitude, while the mood reflects the reader’s experience as a result of the speaker’s attitude. A great example of this difference is made clear in Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”. The tone of this poem, as in the speaker’s attitude toward the subject, is initially quixotic in that the speaker portrays time as everlasting. He asserts that he would spend hundreds of years praising her body parts. (13-15) Then while the previous quote might instill a satisfied mood in the mind of the reader, there is a change in tone to being more vicious and severe as the speaker alludes to what will happen if his “mistress” goes through life without being proactive and taking advantage of the present time. In the mix of all of this, the mood, or the feeling the reader experiences, plays a big part. The initial mood that corresponds with the quixotic tone is euphoric and almost so pleased due to all of the speaker’s impractical promises. Also, a depressing and horrific mood is felt by the reader due to the speaker’s severe tone. An example of this would be when the speaker says that his coy mistress would be alone in a “vault” where “worms shall try that long preserved virginity”(27-28). Again, the use of the words, “vault” and “worms” depicts a frightful image that dutifully addresses the tone and mood of the poem, and specifically the second stanza.