Tone and Mood

Tone/Mood

The tone and mood of a poem refer the poet's or the poem's speaker's attitude toward a subject, or the mood it creates in readers. To create a certain mood, poets carefully select certain poetic devices to include in their pieces. If the poet intends that the poem have a galloping feel, then they can use repetition. To add a dark depressing feel to the poem, poets can use dark shadowy imagery.

Poets also interject certain verbal clues to give readers hints about how to feel on a certain subject. Poetic devices like hyperbole (exaggeration for dramatic effect) can add a comedic or sarcastic tone to a poem.

Next you will read a poem by WWI poem Wilfred Owen entitled “Dulce et Decorum Est”. Owen is perhaps the most well known of the WWI poets. He tragically died in battle a week before WWI ended. As you read “Dulce et Decorum Est” I want you to consider Owen's attitude toward the subject matter along with the mood it creates for you the reader. If you run across a word or term you are unfamiliar with, please look at the footnotes located directly below the poem.

I obtained a copy of this poem from a website dedicated to poetry from WWI. I would strongly suggest that everyone of you check out these poems and poets. Many of the poems you will find on this website were written on the battlefield.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

8 October 1917 - March, 1918
DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country

Every time I read this poem I find myself caught up in the imagery Owen used to describe the unfortunate soldier's death. I swear I can almost see this guy clutching his throat gurgling for help. So, based upon the imagery that Owen uses to describe this element of battle, what would you say is Owen's opinion of war? Does Owen's portrayal of death reinforce the poem's title Dulce et Decorum Est?

I personally find this poem to have a very anti-war message. Owen reinforces this message by describing the brutal death of a fellow soldier and comparing it to “the old lie” Dulce et Decorum Est (It is sweet and honourable to die for one's country ). There was nothing 'sweet' in witnessing a person drown because their lungs filled up with fluid.

Assignment
Now that I have throughly depressed you, lets talk about fishing. The poem that you are going to have to read tonight for homework is by Elizabeth Bishop and it is entitled “The Fish”. Once you've finished the assignment please email it back to me,

Download Elizabeth Bishop's “The Fish"