Final answer:
The mood or atmosphere in literature is shaped by the author's use of connotative language, imagery, and tone. Analyzing these elements helps to identify whether the mood is gloomy, suspenseful, joyful, or indicates a horror of war. The tone is reflected in the author's attitude and choice of words.
Step-by-step explanation:
To describe the mood or atmosphere created by an author, one should pay close attention to the word choice, imagery, tone, and overall style of the writing. Apprehensive, apathy, suspense, horror of war, and joyful expectation are all moods/atmospheres that can be depicted in a text. The mood can be determined by analyzing how the author uses words with strong connotations and imagery that evoke certain emotions. For example, words like "vacant eye-like windows" and "rank" suggest a pattern of death, decline, and decay, thus contributing to a gloomy and depressing mood. In contrast, sentences with joyful or colorful language create a lively or cheerful atmosphere. To assess the tone, it's crucial to look at the author's attitude towards the subject and audience, as reflected in the choice of words. For instance, an author might use 'joyful' rather than 'happy' for a reason, indicating a thoughtful diction intended to convey a specific emotional response.