1. Let’s take a look at:
TONE and MOOD
in POETRY

2. TONE
the speaker’s attitude or feelings about what he/she is writing (or talking) about Examples: happiness, melancholy, adoration Remember that you may have to infer the tone of an author based on simple words and details used in the piece

3. uneasy, fear, sympathetic
MOOD
the way that the reader (or listener) feels as they read (or listen) to the piece
Examples:
uneasy, fear, sympathetic
Remember that the mood could be very different from the tone or could be the same

4. Answer the following questions:
“Lost Generation”
by Jonathan Reed
I am part of a lost generation and I refuse to believe that I can change the world I realize this may be a shock but “Happiness comes from within.” is a lie, and “Money will make me happy.” So in 30 years I will tell my children they are not the most important thing in my life My employer will know that I have my priorities straight because work is more important than family I tell you this Once upon a time Families stayed together but this will not be true in my era This is a quick fix society Experts tell me 30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce I do not concede that I will live in a country of my own making In the future Environmental destruction will be the norm No longer can it be said that My peers and I care about this earth It will be evident that My generation is apathetic and lethargic It is foolish to presume that There is hope.
Read the poem.
Answer the following questions:
What is this piece about?
How does the author feel about this topic?
How do you know—how does he use language to express his attitude?
What is the author’s purpose in writing this piece?
What could the take-away (theme) be?

5. Now read the poem BACKWARDS. Answer the following questions:
“Lost Generation”
by Jonathan Reed
I am part of a lost generation and I refuse to believe that I can change the world I realize this may be a shock but “Happiness comes from within.” is a lie, and “Money will make me happy.” So in 30 years I will tell my children they are not the most important thing in my life My employer will know that I have my priorities straight because work is more important than family I tell you this Once upon a time Families stayed together but this will not be true in my era This is a quick fix society Experts tell me 30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce I do not concede that I will live in a country of my own making In the future Environmental destruction will be the norm No longer can it be said that My peers and I care about this earth It will be evident that My generation is apathetic and lethargic It is foolish to presume that There is hope.
What is this piece about?
How does the author feel about this topic?
How do you know—how does he use language to express his attitude?
What is the author’s purpose in writing this piece?
What could the take-away (theme) be?

6. How does the tone and mood change when the poem is read backwards
How does the tone and mood change when the poem is read backwards? The tone & mood go from negative to positive. What does this illustrate to us about writing? Our word choice determines what readers take from the piece and how they interpret our opinions about the topic.

7. RESPONDING
TO POETRY

8. Read “If I should have a daughter…” by Sarah Kay
Describe the author’s tone / Explain
Identify the mood the piece creates / Explain
What literary devices does the author use?

9. Multiple Choice Answers: 1. A 2. C 3. C 4. D 5. B 6. C 7. D 8. D 9
Multiple Choice Answers: 1. A 2. C 3. C 4. D 5. B 6. C 7. D 8. D 9. A 10. B

10. WATCH & LISTEN

11. Creative Title Think of a creative title for Sarah Kay’s poem.
Explain how/why your choice accurately portrays the tone and mood of the poem.

12. “Execution” by Edward Hirsch:
Execution by Edward Hirsch The last time I saw my high school football coach He had cancer stenciled into his face Like pencil marks from the sun, like intricate Drawings on the chalkboard, small x's and o's That he copied down in a neat numerical hand Before practice in the morning. By day's end The board was a spiderweb of options and counters, Blasts and sweeps, a constellation of players Shining under his favorite word, Execution, Underlined in the upper right-hand corner of things. He believed in football like a new religion And had perfect unquestioning faith in the fundamentals Of blocking and tackling, the idea of warfare Without suffering or death, the concept of teammates Moving in harmony like the planets — and yet Our awkward adolescent bodies were always canceling. The flawless beauty of Saturday afternoons in September, Falling away from the particular grace of autumn, The clear weather, the ideal game he imagined.
And so he drove us through punishing drills On weekday afternoons, and doubled our practice time, And challenged us to hammer him with forearms, And devised elaborate, last-second plays — a flea- Flicker, a triple reverse — to save us from defeat. Almost always they worked. He despised losing And loved winning more than his own body, maybe even More than himself. But the last time I saw him He looked wobbly and stunned by illness, And I remembered the game in my senior year When we met a downstate team who loved hitting More than we did, who battered us all afternoon With a vengeance, who destroyed us with timing And power, with deadly, impersonal authority, Machine-like fury, perfect execution.
“Execution” by Edward Hirsch:
Read the poem
Answer the following questions in your notebook:
What is this piece about?
What is the author’s purpose in writing this piece?
How does the author use language to express his/her purpose?
What could the take-away (theme) be?

13. DO NOW: Response to “Execution”
Poetry Analysis
“How do I write a response to a poem?”
DO NOW: Response to “Execution”
DO NOW:
What did you think about the poem “Execution”?
Write a paragraph explaining your opinion.

14. REVISITING YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE POEM “EXECUTION”
Let’s take a look at:
REVISITING YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE POEM “EXECUTION”

15. “Execution” by Edward Hirsch Reflection Summary:
What do you think and/or feel about this poem? What mood does it create? Write one sentence to express this.
Why do you think and/or feel this way about the poem?
Write 1 reason.
Explain your reason in at least two sentences.
Find text evidence from the piece to show or support your
reason from #2. .
Explain how your text evidence supports your reason.
Write a thematic statement that could relate to your
response to #1 (relate your supporting evidence to the mood of the poem). Try to restate what you said in #1 into this statement.
“Execution” by Edward Hirsch Reflection Summary:
Now that you have discussed this poem, use your understanding of it to construct a summary of what you thought and/or how you felt about the piece by answering these questions.

16. “Execution” by Edward Hirsch Reflection Summary:
What do you think and/or feel about this poem? Write one sentence to express this. This will include the tone and mood.
Shell Silverstein’s The Giving Tree is a sad story that leaves the reader feeling empathy for the tree.
2. Why do you think and/or feel this way about the poem? Write 1 reason.
One cannot help but to feel sorry for the tree because it constantly yearns for the love and attention of the little boy but doesn’t always receive them.
Explain your reason in at least two sentences.
Since the boy was a youth, the tree would give all that she had to it. However, as much as she would give was as much as the boy would take. The unfortunate part is that, throughout the story, the boy always asks of the tree things that he should be able to obtain on his own.
Find 2 examples of text evidence from the piece to show or support your reason from #2.
He would ask such things as, “Can you give me some money? Can you give me a house? Can you give me a boat?” (paragraphs 5, 10, and 15). .
Explain how your text evidence supports your reason.
These requests from the boy show how he values the tree in that all he wants is for the tree to “give” him things.
Write a thematic statement that could relate to your response to #1.
The sadness of this story shows that it must be difficult to love something that does not love you in return.
“Execution” by Edward Hirsch Reflection Summary:
Review these examples of how the questions could be answered. (using the story “The Giving Tree”)

17. “Execution” by Edward Hirsch Reflection Summary:
The Giving Tree is a sad story that leaves the reader feeling empathy for the tree. One cannot help but to feel sorry for the tree because it constantly gives unconditional love to the boy, but that love is not always reciprocated. Since the boy was a youth, the tree would give all that she had to it. However, as much as she would give was as much as the boy would take. The unfortunate part was that, throughout the story, the boy would always ask of the tree things that he should have been able to obtain on his own. He would ask such things as, “Can you give me some money? Can you give me a house? Can you give me a boat?” (paragraphs 5, 10, and 15). These requests from the boy show how he values the tree in that all he wants is for the tree to “give” him things. Although this story is fictional in that there is no such thing as a talking tree, the characters in this book could actually represent real people. There are many relationships that exist like the one that the tree and the boy have. Whether the relationship is between a parent and child, two friends, or a couple dating, the sadness of this story shows that it must be difficult to love something that does not love you in return.
“Execution” by Edward Hirsch Reflection Summary:
When you put all of your sentences together, this is what it could look like.
What is this piece about?
What is the author’s position on the topic? What sentence show the author’s position?
How does the author support her position?
How is this piece organized?
What could the take-away be?
How could you expand this response into a longer essay?