Mood in Poetry: Examples and Definition of Mood in Poetry

In poetry, the mood describes how word choice, subject matter, and the author's tone convey an overall feeling that characterizes the emotional landscape of a poem for readers. Of course, how each reader feels will differ, but poets can provide a point of view in their literary work to allow readers to enter a specific atmosphere. Poems are often shorter than many other kinds of writing, so the mood of the poem can more easily remain consistent throughout the whole piece, creating a distinct and memorable sense of place, voice, meaning, feeling, and experience.

An author uses mood to build a cohesive emotional setting for a poem. The poet's choice of words and literary devices creates an atmosphere for their piece of writing that transcends the specific ideas or words in the poem. When executed successfully, a strong mood evokes memorable emotions in the reader, which helps leave a lasting emotional response.

Explore some strong examples of mood in poetry.

1. 1. "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe (1845): “The Raven” is one of the most famous texts in English literature. What’s relevant to mood here is the immediate dark and slightly paranoid diction established from the start. Poe uses words like "dreary," "bleak," "terrors," and "weary" to convey a sense of foreboding. Though this poem is structured like a short story, not much actually happens in it. The frightening mood of the poem, its omens, and the suggestion of its duration greatly contribute to its haunting longevity in readers' memories.
2. 2. "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks (1959): Gwendolyn Brooks' poem is famous for its music and within the distinctive rhythm is an equally specific mood. The poem centers on a few boys who Brooks glimpsed hanging out during school hours. It isn't so much displaying the author's attitude or how the author feels, but her imagined view on how the boys were feeling about themselves. This mood is expressed in both literal and figurative language, all of which point towards an improvisational, youthful posture that depicts the boys as having difficult issues on their minds ("We/ Die soon") and yet are playfully employing different creative strategies to deal with them ("We/ Left school.", "We/ Thin gin)".
3. 3. "Praise House: The New Economy" by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (2017): This poem is dedicated to another poet named Ross Gay, and Calvocoressi adopts that poet's frequent ecstatic mood of taking account of things one feels gratitude for. The poem uses several poetic devices such as anaphora, or repetition, to list things. The theme of the poem is entirely suggested by the mood, which is one of light-hearted, exuberant love and a general atmosphere of gratitude, and a tone of voice that is committed to taking account of what the poet already has. The writer's attitude is established at the start by the way things are described ("The rosemary bush blooming/ its unabashed blue. Also dumplings/ filled with steam and soup/ so my mouth fills and I bubble/ over with laughter. Little things.")

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