Mood & Atmosphere
M&A
Overview
Valued Learning Outcomes (VLOs)
By the end of this unit, students will:
- Be able to identify the mood/atmosphere of literary texts and describe that mood using an increased vocabulary
- Analyse how authors/creators use language to create mood and atmosphere in a range of studied and unfamiliar texts, using appropriate meta-language
- Show understanding of why authors evoke mood/atmosphere, in terms of audience & purpose, ideas and structure
- Use knowledge of visual and multi-modal texts to support reading of written literary texts, and vice versa
- Respond to and re-represent written texts as visual and multi-modal texts, and vice versa
- Compare and contrast how language is used to create mood in different texts
- Be able to write short essays in which they analyse single and multiple texts
- Use their increased knowledge to evoke mood and atmosphere in their own creative writing
- Use awareness of mood/atmosphere and language features as an ‘entry point’ to more difficult texts, and to support reading comprehension more generally
Key language features for mood and atmosphere
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Word choices: Exploring how the connotations/associations of words as well as the denotations/literal meanings create m&A. Use technical terms to discuss word choices (e.g. concrete nouns) |
Sensory imagery: visual, aural, gustatory, olfactory, tactile and kinesthetic imagery |
Figurative language: particularly metaphorical language (metaphor, simile, personification) |
How many different language features you focus on in the unit is up to you – but we think each of your identified language features should be revisited at least 3 or 4 times over the unit.
Students will have opportunities to analyse texts using these language features AND practice using in their own creative writing e.g. in a lesson you might focus on how an author used sensory imagery to create mood and then have students write sentences using the same imagery to create a contrasting mood.
Sensory Imagery
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Visual imagery e.g. colour, size, shape, lightness and darkness, shadows, and shade. |
Gustatory imagery (taste). |
Tactile imagery (touch). e.g. textures, differences in temperature. |
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Auditory imagery (hearing). This includes references to sounds as well as literary devices such as onomatopoeia and alliteration. |
Olfactory imagery (smell). |
Kinesthetic imagery (a.k.a kinesthesia) engages the feeling of movement. Rushing water, flapping wings, and pounding hearts are all examples of kinesthetic imagery. |
Figurative language
When students encounter figurative language, encourage them to use the “source/target” organiser to think about the comparisons the author is trying to make.
‘Source’ and ‘Target’
- One way to conceptualise figurative language is as ‘source’ and ‘target’.
- ‘Source’ is the original denotation of the word/phrase
- ‘Target’ is what the writer is describing
-Boers, 2000
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