Tone, attitude and mood in poetry

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Tone
A good number of scholars give the same definition for tone and attitude. This is, however, very wrong because the two are different: tone is strictly about the voice used while attitude is about the meaning of that voice in terms of the feelings of the persona. Therefore, tone is the quality of the voice used by the persona in passing the message to the audience. In other words, it is how the persona sounds. 

There is an overwhelmingly large number of words that can used to describe tone. Among them are:
There are very many descriptive words for tone.
The poem My Papa's Waltz uses a nostalgic tone to highlight the persona's condition of missing his old times with his father. Consider the second stanza quoted below. 
        We romped until the pans
         Slid from the kitchen shelf; 
          My mother's countenance 
           Could not unfrown itself. 
  The first two lines, particularly, indicate how the persona used to play with his father, and writing them in the past tense clearly shows that the playing no longer takes place. Perhaps, the father is long dead or the persona is now a grownup and can no longer play with him. This is the reason he misses his past. 

On the other hand, Henry Muwanga Barlow's poem, Building the Nation adopts a sarcastic/ironic/satirical/mocking tone in criticizing the actions of the permanent secretary and his cronies. Consider the lines:

Today, I did my share in building the nation
I drove the permanent secretary to an important, urgent function
In fact, to a luncheon at the Vic. 
The menu reflected it's importance
Cold bell beer with small talk,
Then fried chicken with nicities
Wine to fill the hollowness of the laughs
Ice-cream to cover the stereotype jokes...

The tone is sarcastic because one may easily be made to believe that he approves of the permanent secretary's deeds. However, a keen look at the choice of words points out the fact that he actually disapproves of these deeds. In particular, the words luncheon, niceties, stereotype jokes and the long list of foods given paint a picture  that contrasts with the expectations of the people he serves. He's supposed to be discussing important urgent development issues but ends up feasting. 

Attitude 
This is the feeling the persona has towards the subject of the poem. It is usually implied from the tone used and the poet's diction (choice of words). Most of the words, not all of them, used in describing tone can be used to describe attitude. Among them are:

In the poem War is Kind By Stephen Crane, for instance, despite the tone appearing to approve of war (it's sarcastic), the persona disapproves of war because of its impact on society.  Consider the second stanza:

 Do not weep, babe, for war is kind. 
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches, 
Raged at his breasts, gulped and died, 
Do not weep. 
War is kind. 

War cannot be kind when it results in the death of babe's father, leaving babe orphaned. Therefore, the diction vividly shows that the persona hates war. The words contemptuous, hateful, critical and disdainful can also be used to describe this attitude. 

Mood
This is the general feeling of the audience upon listening to the recitation of a poem or after the reading of a poem. Mood can be:
Sad
  • Melancholic 
  • Happy 
  • Joyful
  • Calm
  • Peaceful
  • Depressing
  • Sombre
  • And gloomy among other words. 

In a poem where the persona proposes marriage to her beloved, we expect the mood to be a joyful one. In contrast to this, in a funeral, where a moanful tone is the order of the day, we expect the mood to be a sombre one. Consider the forth line of A. E. Housman's poem To An Athlete Dying Young:

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

This poem creates a sad/sombre/moanful mood. The subject is a record-setting athlete who has died, and death has denied him the opportunity to see his record broken. 

In summary, tone is about the voice the persona uses, attitude is how the persona feels about what they are talking about and mood is how the audience feels after the recitation of the poem. 

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