Begin practicing the analysis of tone by using short passages that use a specific device such as Diction, Images, Details, Language or Sentence Structure to convey tone. Suggest what tone words you would use to describe the speaker's attitude.
1. In his "The Fall of the House of Usher," Edgar Allan Poe has created clear tone. Identify the tone, then examine and provide examples of diction, details, imagery, and syntax that create the tone
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher...I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwelling...(with) vacant and eye-like windows.
Edgar Allan Poe From "The Fall of the House of Usher."
1. Color code the literary devices in the paragraph by using the following key:
red = diction
blue =details
purple =imagery
dark green =syntax
2. Choose three to five examples of each literary device listed above and explain connotation, and the effect of the literary device on the tone.
Edgar Allan Poe uses diction such as �oppressively,� �dreary,� �melancholy,� and which offer the connotation of depression, dullness, and cruelty. These words help to reinforce the tone because they describe the feeling of emptiness and depression.
Imagery is noticed in this excerpt as "the shades of the evening drew on," which show the image of a darkening sky. The "unruffled luster," describes the dwelling in a rustic and dreary way. And "vacant eye-like windows" infer the emptiness of the house.
The details in this story "dull, and dark" create the mood of the story descriibing it as dreary. "Clouds hung" shows the sky being cloudy presenting a dull atmosphere. Lastly, the "precipitous brink of a black" describes the tarn as dark.
The syntax is noticed in the line "autumn of the year" which makes you notice the type of day it is. "Passing alone" shows lonliness, and "at length found myself" is a different type of phrasing that shows the authors meaning.