What is the difference between tone and voice in poetry?

Question

I'm just a little confused! Help would be much appreciated! Thanks =D

Answer 1

Tone ordinarily refers to all the ways in which a voice may enrich or modify the meanings of spoken words.  We are all familiar with the great variety of tones possible in speech.  We may be put off by a note of condescension, or whining, or aggressiveness.  We can be comforted by tones that are sympathetic or soothing.  We find ourselves persuaded not only by cogent reasons, but by the sounds of patient reasoning.  We often sense that a person is saying something quite different from what his words convey: his words may be calm, but his voice agitated; or his words may  be pleasant, while his entire manner speaks of impatience or dislike.  Words of praise are easily turned into words of scorn by a touch of irony in the voice.

The voices of poetry, however, must contrive to produce in print all those effects that a speaker, face-to-face with his audience, creates by tone, gesture, and stance.  TONE in poetry comprises the attitudes of the poet toward his subject and toward his audience, as they can be inferred from the poem.  These attitudes need not always be separately distinguishable in a poem, but the sensitive reader is ready to respond to them as they present themselves.  What clues will the reader have to these attitudes?  Tone shows itself most often in diction, but also appears in images, cadences, rhythms, or any other events in the poem.