Tone

I find the analysis of literary ‘tone’ to be among the richest methods we can teach students.

Mark schemes across English Literature and English Language reward ‘thoughtful’ and ‘perceptive’ interpretations in the upper levels, and this often means developing alternative lines of analysis.

Tone is such a rich tool for this. There is rarely – if ever – a single tone to analyse; instead, several overlap.

Consider Macbeth’s response to his wife’s death: “Out, out, brief candle!” What is his tone? We might read it as nihilistic, resigned, regretful, mournful, even bitter. Each opens its own line of analysis.

There is as much complexity in analysing tone as in analysing human feeling, which is perhaps why it carries such resonance.