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Two important features of every poem are its tone and its mood .
TONE — The Poet’s Attitude
Tone
is the way the
poet
feels about his subject — the “voice” in which he speaks. Here, the poet’s tone is:
Celebratory
Joyful
Full of Respect
Proud of the Workers
The poet speaks with
joy and respect
. He treats every worker’s sound — humming, singing, even hammering — as part of one big
celebration
.
MOOD — What the Reader Feels
Mood
is the feeling the
reader
gets after reading the poem. Here, the poem fills the reader with:
Joyful
Warm
Inspired
Respectful
Uplifted
After reading, the reader feels
warm and happy
, and begins to
respect every worker
— the electrician, the cook, the mason — a little more.
Quick way to remember the difference:
Tone
= how the
poet
feels (poet’s side).
Mood
= how the
reader
feels (your side).
Rhyme Scheme and Rhythm
‘Gifts of Grace’ is written in free verse — it does not follow a fixed end-rhyme scheme (there is no regular pattern like ABAB or AABB), and the lines are of different lengths. Its music comes instead from repetition and sound words.
What gives the poem its music (in place of rhyme)
- Refrain — the line “I hear Bharat celebrating” opens the poem and returns in the last line, like the chorus of a song.
- Parallel structure — many lines follow the same shape, “The [worker]s …ing” (The carpenters celebrating, The electricians humming, The boatmen gathering), giving a steady beat.
- Sound words — humming, singing, echoing and hailing fill the poem with the real music of work.
- Long, flowing lines — the free lines run on like busy streets full of working sounds, so the poem feels alive and moving.
In one line for the exam:
The poem is in
free verse
(no fixed rhyme scheme); its rhythm and song-like quality come from the
refrain, the repeated line shape and sound words
, not from rhyme.
