Question

Read the following passage from Muir's "Calypso Borealis" and respond to the prompt.

[1] After earning a few dollars working on my brother-in law's farm near Portage [Wisconsin], I set off on the first of my long lonely excursions, botanising in glorious freedom around the Great Lakes and wandering through innumerable tamarac and arbor-vitae swamps, and forests of maple, basswood, ash, elm, balsam, fir, pine, spruce, hemlock, rejoicing in their bound wealth and strength and beauty, climbing the trees, revelling in their flowers and fruit like bees in beds of goldenrods, glorying in the fresh cool beauty and charm of the bog and meadow heathworts, grasses, carices, ferns, mosses, liverworts displayed in boundless profusion.

[2] 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.

What creates tone in a piece of writing? Identify the tone (or tones) of this passage. Explain how the tone(s) is created, providing at least two examples from the passage and explaining how each contributes specifically to the tone(s) you identified. Your response should be a paragraph of 5–7 sentences.

Answer 1

Muir's "Calypso Borealis" exhibits a tone of awe and adventure, as well as challenge and endurance, created through his vivid descriptions of nature’s beauty juxtaposed with the hardships of exploration.

Step-by-step explanation:

Tone in a piece of writing is created by the choice of words and the imagery used to convey the author's feelings and attitudes toward the subject matter. In Muir's "Calypso Borealis", the tone can be described as one of awe and adventure, blended with a touch of hardship. The author describes his immersion in nature with phrases such as "botanising in glorious freedom" and "rejoicing in their bound wealth and strength and beauty", which create a sense of wonder and deep appreciation for the environment. Contrastingly, he also recounts the difficulties of his journey, referring to fording streams and wading through swamps, which injects a tone of challenge and endurance. These elements together build a rich and multifaceted tone that conveys both the beauty and the struggles inherent in his explorations.

Answer 2

The words used create the tone. The tone in this passage would be kind of sad because the author uses the words flooded,faint and hungry. The tone is created when the author uses the words like struggling.

Step-by-step explanation: