You already know when a song, a room or a short video leaves a feeling in you without spelling it out. A poem does the same work with words alone.
Today you learn three terms that name that work: theme, mood and atmosphere. You practise three labelled lines on a short poem, then build a Theme, Mood, Atmosphere Sheet on one of the two poems your class chose in Lesson 91, your anchor poems, and file it in your Communication Portfolio.
Three terms, kept separate:
| Term | What it means for you | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Theme: the big idea under the surface | Ask: what is this really about, once you look past the plot? | A poem about trainers on a wet path that is really about leaving home |
| Mood: the feeling left in the reader | Ask: how do I feel when I finish it? | Finishing a short piece and feeling restless rather than calm |
| Atmosphere: the felt sense of the poem's world | Ask: what is the weather, the room, the time of day doing? | A bus shelter that smells of wet wool and chips |
Quick model (not the poem you draft next). Three lines:
The shelter is empty except for you.
Rain stitches the pavement shut.
You check the app again. Still twelve minutes.
Atmosphere: "Rain stitches the pavement shut" closes the place in. Mood: the repeated check of the app leaves you impatient and stuck. Theme: waiting alone, with nothing arriving.
Mood is in you. Atmosphere is in the world of the poem. Theme is the idea both of them serve.
This is practice for your sheet in step 4, not the piece you file. Your answers save as you type.
This is the piece that goes in your Communication Portfolio: a Theme, Mood, Atmosphere Sheet on your anchor poem from Lesson 91 (its title is on the board). Open Enter Your Work below and fill in the sheet there.
If you were absent or do not have that poem, use The Coat on the Chair and carry your three answers from step 3 straight onto the sheet.
If time runs short, three labelled quotes with a reason each and your three definitions are enough; the last line can wait. When the sheet is done, copy it into a new document in your Communication Portfolio and save it as m4_l99_theme_mood_atmosphere_<your-initials>.
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