8/8!

Tone and mood are the method by which the author lets a reader know how to react to a scene or piece of information. Both tone and mood consist of more specific devices such as poetry sounds and diction. Diction enhances tone by choosing the appropriately sounding words. For example in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock the author T.S. Eliot uses diction that implies anxiety such as "QUOTE." This type of using diction to determine mood is contrasted by a poem such as "Out Out" by Robert Frost where the same type of mood is in the poem but using poem sounds instead of diction. When read out loud, the excessive sibilance in the beginning of the poem implies to the reader that there is a sinister quality to this seemingly perfect afternoon. Tone and mood operate in a way that communicates much more than the way a character is acting or the emotion invoked in the reader when reading a passage. Tone and mood can give more detail and significance to symbols and iconic scenes. Such scenes can be found in almost all great works of literature and make tone and mood integral to the significance of great works.

7/8

Diction is the most important device in crafting poetry sounds and connotation. The diction that an author uses is always intended to convey the tone and mood of a passage. The type of diction used by a character or used by the narrator can give the reader clues about that character's personality and whether or not that narrator is biased and/or reliable. For instance, Hamlet's diction when talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about his feigned craziness is altered to accommodate the change in personality. This is only one example of Hamlet's consistently changing diction throughout the play. In moments of anger, sadness, madness, and wrath, Hamlet employs the appropriate diction to convey those emotions. Diction also controls every secondary element of literature. Without the words the sound of poetry, vivid imagery, character, etc. So all of literature can be either ruined or made paramount based on its appropriate use of diction.