Have you ever woken up “On the wrong side of the bed”? You feel grumpy and may grumble about the day. You may not feel like getting ready for work or school and everything takes on a grey feel. A friend may say something jokingly and you may take it the wrong way. Nothing feels right and you just want to go back to bed. On top of it all, the day may be cloudy and storm threats are on the horizon.

Other days, you may wake up and stretch, and wake up full of energy. Everything seems bright. You can hum through traffic and brush off comments that on other days may just put you in a foul mood. Everything seems to be cheery. The birds are singing and its simply a good day to be alive.

Still other days, often after a sad experience, you may feel depressed. Nothing cheers you up and it feels like a weight is pushing down on your shoulders. The birds seem to sing mournful songs and every footstep is an exertion. The sun may be shining, but its brightness simply seems to be mocking the deep, dark gloom that threatens to bear down on your very soul. The sadness is overwhelming and seems to infiltrate every interaction.

These three paragraphs are examples of tone . Each paragraph was written in a way to make you feel the each mood as if you were experiencing it yourself. We can all relate to these feelings. They way we feel affects the outlook of the experiences of our day.

In Poetry, the mood of the author is poured out into their writing. Each poem takes on a particular feeling. This is the tone or the mood of the poem. Good poetry has a quality to it that pulls you in and makes you experience the extreme moods of the poet. This is why poetry is so powerful. More than just writing, it carries a tone that leaves a mark on your soul.

I read an article called Is mental illness an occupational hazard of poets?” in which there was a discussion about whether the emotional high and low mood swings of bi-polar disorder was a factor in the intensity of poems from some well known poets, such as Sylvia Plath, John Clare, and Robert Lowell. Its an interesting thought to entertain, as poetry is a powerful means of self-expression.

Next time you read a poem, think about the tone it is written in and the overall feeling it creates within you.