EXAMPLES OF TONE IN LITERATURE
1. "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love," – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Set at the beginning of the play, this sentence indicates that the story will be a love story but it will be one with a somber or sad note, rather than a happy ending.​ (Tone Examples)
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​A Blade of Grass
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You ask for a poem.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You say it is not good enough.
You ask for a poem.
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I say this blade of grass will do.
It has dressed itself in frost,
It is more immediate
Than any image of my making.
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You say it is not a poem,
It is a blade of grass and grass
Is not quite good enough.
I offer you a blade of grass.
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You are indignant.
You say it is too easy to offer grass.
It is absurd.
Anyone can offer a blade of grass.
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You ask for a poem.
And so I write you a tragedy about
How a blade of grass
Becomes more and more difficult to offer.
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And about how as you grow older
A blade of grass
Becomes more difficult to accept.
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​~Brian Patten
​The Happy Grass
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Here, in their final quiet, the singers lie.
True to the dead, to the living true.
The grass is growing as it always grew
Drinking every human cry
Like the rain of summer reaching the repose
Of singers long out of sight.
Will we ever know what the grass knows
Flourishing in green wisdom, green delight?
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When delusions of communication cease
And we are victims once again
Of rumors the gossip wind is bringing
We'll celebrate the singers in their peace
Because above the graves of men
The happy grass is singing.
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~Brendan Kennelly
2. A poem's tone is the attitude that its style implies. Brian Patten's 'A Blade of Grass' has a tone of sad acceptance toward the loss of childlike wonder that could have accepted the blade of grass, for example; 'The Happy Grass', by Brendan Kennelly, has instead a hopeful tone toward the prospect of peace that the grass represents, tempered by an awareness that there will be graves on which the grass will grow. (Poetry Archive)
3. One of the most well known characters in all of literature, Holden Caulfield, has an undeniable tone in Catcher in the Rye. He is sarcastic, tough, and inquisitive. He also makes poignant observations through his rather biting tone. Some quotations from Holden are as follows [please excuse all cursing]:
"Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell."
"Catholics are always trying to find out if you're Catholic."
"If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody."
"People never believe you."
"All morons hate it when you call them a moron."
Studying Holden certainly gives a large amount of insight into tone. Holden tends to speak sarcastically; however, he is making satirical statements about the nature of life. That is exactly what J.D. Salinger's purpose was. He wanted to write a coming of age narrative about a boy navigating through life alone and observing and criticizing the world around him. Through the establishment of Holden's tone, Salinger does just that. (Tone Examples)
