Tone, Voice and Attitude

In the study of unseen poetry, tone and voice are not secondary considerations — they are central to understanding how a poem creates meaning and how it positions the reader. A poem's tone is its emotional texture; its voice is the medium through which that texture reaches us. At A-Level, you are expected to analyse both with precision, showing not merely what a poem feels but how it creates that feeling and why it matters.

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Identifying the Speaker

The first question to ask of any poem is: who is speaking?

This may seem simple, but it is a question students frequently overlook or answer too hastily. The speaker of a poem is not necessarily the poet. Even in poems that appear autobiographical, the "I" is a constructed voice — a persona created for the purposes of the poem.