Tone/Mood

Mood and Tone are the backbone and the face of a poem. They are what a poem is trying to convey to an audience. Often Poetic devices are used to support the tone and mood. For example in To His Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell, the mood was a sense of urgency. Word choice often alters the mood depending on the nature of the word. "worms" and "ashes" are two words which give the poem an altered mood of disgust and gives the poem a negative feeling.