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Literature vocabulary · Core Concepts

Mood

Meaning in literature, with examples

/muːd/nounCore term

In literature, mood means: The general feeling or atmosphere that a text creates in the reader, such as tension, sadness, peace or fear.

In Turkish: atmosfer, hava, duygu durumu

How it is used

Used with setting, imagery and tone in analysis. Writers create, build or establish a mood; critics describe it as dark, gloomy, tense, eerie or hopeful. 'Atmosphere' is a close synonym, especially for settings.

Example sentences

  1. The fog and the empty streets create a mood of menace from the first page.

  2. How does the weather in this chapter reflect the mood of the characters?

Common collocations

  • create a mood
  • dark mood
  • mood of suspense
  • tone and mood
  • change of mood
  • toneThe attitude that a writer or narrator shows toward the subject and the reader, expressed through word choice and style, such as ironic, serious or playful.
  • settingThe time and place in which a story happens, including its social background, historical period and atmosphere.
  • imageryDescriptive language that appeals to the senses, such as sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, so that readers can picture or feel what is described.
  • foreshadowingA technique in which the writer gives early hints or warnings about events that will happen later in the story.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Core Concepts

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