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Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Chapter 5, Part 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The tone of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is introspective, serious, and often lyrical. During Stephen's epiphanies, the narrator focuses more on the inner workings of Stephen's psychology and emotions, which creates a thoughtful tone. The novel's most poetic passages occur in Chapter 5, Part 1 as the narrator's tone becomes even loftier and more lyrical:
Through this image he had a glimpse of a strange dark cavern of speculation but at once turned away from it, feeling that it was not yet the hour to enter it. [...] he found himself glancing from one casual word to another on his right or left in stolid wonder that they had been so silently emptied of instantaneous sense until every mean shop legend bound his mind like the words of a spell and his soul shrivelled up sighing with age as he walked on in a lane among heaps of dead language.
Related Themes:
