Tone ©

DEFINITION
The up and down pitch of your voice that adds mood into your poem. 


EXAMPLE
I'm going out to clean the pasture spring; (light, informing tone) 
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away ("only" tone - reservation) 
And wait to watch the water clear, I may: (supplementary, possibility voice) 
I sha'n't be gone long. -- You come too. (free tone, assuring) (after thought, inviting) "Rather well for me" -- 

I'm going out to fetch the little calf (Similar, free, persuasive, assuring) 
That's standing by the mother. It's so young, (inviting tones)
It totters when she licks it with her tongue. 
I sha'n't be gone long. -- You come too. 

by Robert Frost


SIGNIFICANCE
If the author is trying to express some feeling and some mood to the poem, tone is one needed element while reciting the poem. You can feel what the author is trying to express through the tone of the poem. Reading with tone makes the reader sounds more natural and dramatic.