Blog #8: Tone/ Mood

         The tone and mood espoused by the author is what gets the reader in the mindset of the piece of text. If an author is talking about the serenity of the ocean, it would not make sense for him and her to use a harsh or coarse tone. In “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath, there are definite tonal shifts in her speaking which indicates the shift in emotion throughout her poem. For instance, in the stanza “I have always been scared of you,/ With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygook/….Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You-/ Not God but a swastika” (lines 42-46). There is an evident tonal shift from the first line of the stanza to the first line of the following stanza. Plath starts off more fearful and sad in the first line and then she shifts to a more aggressive and angry tone. The tone of the author or poet indicates to the reader how he or she should be feeling when reading their piece. Successful writers are able to create a mood for their writing that can be observed from only understanding parts of the writing.