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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. Here, the poet’s tone is:
Loving
Tender
Calm
Gently Sad
The poet speaks with
deep love and a soft, quiet longing
for his mother. He is calm, not crying loudly, but you can feel a gentle sadness underneath.
MOOD - What the Reader Feels
Mood
is the feeling the
reader
gets after reading the poem. Here, the poem fills the reader with:
Calm
Touched
Peaceful
A Little Sad
After reading, the reader feels a
warm, peaceful calm
and is gently moved by the child’s love for his lost mother.
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
‘I Cannot Remember My Mother’ is written in free verse - it does not follow a fixed end-rhyme scheme (there is no regular pattern like ABAB or AABB). Its gentle music comes from rhythm and repetition instead.
What gives the poem its music (in place of rhyme)
- Refrain - the line “I cannot remember my mother” begins each of the three stanzas , like a soft, repeated sigh.
- Gentle, flowing lines - the lines run on softly without sharp stops, giving a calm, dreamy rhythm.
- Sense images - the tune, the smell and the sky create a slow, peaceful feeling rather than a quick beat.
In one line for the exam:
The poem is in
free verse
(no fixed rhyme scheme); its gentle, song-like quality comes from the
refrain and the slow, flowing lines
, not from rhyme.
