Mood and Tone
Read the following excerpt from Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities.
A shrill sound of laughter and of amused voices—voices of men, women, and children—resounded in the street while this wine game lasted. There was little roughness in the sport, and much playfulness. There was a special companionship in it, an observable inclination on the part of every one to join some other one, which led, especially among the luckier or lighter-hearted, to frolicsome embraces, drinking of healths, shaking of hands, and even joining of hands and dancing, a dozen together.
What is the mood of this excerpt?
a. depressing b. jovial c. angry
jovial
Read the following excerpt from Obama's Osama Bin Laden Speech. What rhetorical device is reflected in the italicized words?
The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory -- hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky; the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground; black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon; the wreckage of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heartbreak and destruction.
a. rhetorical question b. parallel structure c. repetition
parallel structure
Read the following poem by Carl Sandburg. What is the figure of speech and what effect does it have on the reader?
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
a. simile; it makes the reader laugh
b. metaphor; it creates a sense of mysteriousness
c. alliteration; it makes the fog look sneaky
metaphor; it creates a sense of mysteriousness
Read the following stanza from Dylan Thomas's poem "Do Not Go Gentle."
What is the mood of the stanza?
"And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
unrelenting
Read the following excerpt from Obama's Osama Bin Laden speech. Which of the following rhetorical appeals does it contain?
And yet we know that the worst images are those that were unseen to the world. The empty seat at the dinner table. Children who were forced to grow up without their mother or their father. Parents who would never know the feeling of their child’s embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts
a. pathos b. ethos c. logos
pathos
What literary device is demonstrated by the italicized phrase and what effect does it have on the reader?
"America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining."
a. simile; the reader feels proud and optimistic
b. alliteration; the reader feels depressed but proud
c. alliteration; the reader feels proud and optimistic
alliteration; the reader feels proud and optimistic
Read the following excerpt from the poem "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath. What is the mood of the stanza?
"You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo."
a. loving b. angry c. oppressive
oppressive
What rhetorical device is reflected in the excerpt from Bush's 9/11 speech?
"And I pray they will be comforted by a Power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me."
a. parallel structure b. repetition c. allusion
allusion
Read the following excerpt from the poem "Casey at the Bat." What is the mood of this first stanza?
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
a. despair b. excitement c. humor
despair
What rhetorical device is reflected in the following excerpt from JFK's inauguration address?
"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." –JFK Inaugural Address
a. allusion b. parallel structure c. antithesis
antithesis
What type of irony is used in the following excerpt from O'Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief," and what effect does it have on the reader?
"It looked like a good thing. But wait till I tell you. We were down south, in Alabama – Bill Driscoll and myself – when this kidnapping idea struck us. There was a town down there, as flat as a pancake, and called Summit. Bill and I had about six hundred dollars. We needed just two thousand dollars more for an illegal land deal in Illinois."_
a. verbal irony; for emphasis
b. situational irony; humor
c. dramatic irony; humor
situational irony; humor
What is the tone of the following excerpt from George W. Bush's 9/11 speech?
"A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."
a. patriotic optimism b. humorous c. pessimism
patriotic optimism
What rhetorical device is demonstrated in the following excerpt?
“Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?”--JFK inaugural address
rhetorical question