Tone

Tone

Definition: The way that a poem sounds like when reading aloud.

Example:

The Pasture

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)
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,    (and inviting tones in second stanza)       
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha'n't be gone long.  -- You come too.

by Robert Frost

Significance: Tone makes a poem livelier by bringing feelings, emotions to the poem.