Question

What creates tone in a piece of writing? Identify the tone (or tones) of this passage.

The rarest and most beautiful of the flowering plants I discovered on this first grand excursion was Calypso borealis (the Hider of the North). I had been fording streams more and more difficult to cross and wading bogs and swamps that seemed more and more extensive and more difficult to force one's way through. Entering one of these great tamarac and arbor-vitae swamps one morning, holding a general though very crooked course by compass, struggling through tangled drooping branches and over and under broad heaps of fallen trees, I began to fear that I would not be able to reach dry ground before dark, and therefore would have to pass the night in the swamp and began, faint and hungry, to plan a nest of branches on one of the largest trees or windfalls like a monkey's nest, or eagle's, or Indian's in the flooded forests of the Orinoco described by Humboldt.

Answer 1

Answer: Tone in a piece of writing is created through the use of language, including word choice, sentence structure, and literary devices, to convey the writer's attitude or feelings towards the subject matter.

Explanation: The tone of this passage is admiring and reverential. The author speaks of the Calypso borealis as "the rarest and most beautiful of the flowering plants," and uses phrases such as "struggling through tangled drooping branches" and "flooded forests of the Orinoco described by Humboldt" to convey a sense of adventure and exploration. The use of terms such as "monkey's nest," "eagle's," or "Indian's" also implies a deep appreciation for the natural world and indigenous cultures.