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.

Diction

Diction often sets a tone for a poem. By saying certain things in certain ways, a poem can have a specific meaning that derives from the Diction of a poem. Punctuation often is important along with word choice. Words have different implications when said certain ways, which in essence is diction. In An Athlete Dying Young, there is a simple diction that goes along with the serious situation of the athlete. Diction creates a picture in the reader head through the simplistic diction which makes this poem a more capturing poem, all made possible by diction.

Imagery and Figurative Language

Imagery and figurative language are used in poetry to help the audience further understand the meaning of a poem. Once a readers senses are activated he or she becomes more engaged in the reading and thus is able to understand its point more clearly. In To the Virgins, "To-morrow will be dying" is an image of a day dying, which is used to support the theme of carpe diem, showing that time is young and it needs to be taken advantage of.

Sounds

Poetic sounds are used by the narrator towards the subject of the poem. The sounds of words often give feeling for a poem and help the reader read the poem in a certain way. For example 'vegetable love' is a slowly pronounced phrase that when said demonstrates a slow on going process of love.