How do I detect the tone of a piece of poetry or prose?

Tone should be one of the first pieces you look for when you get a passage of poetry or prose. Tone isnt always the best descriptor- mood is another way of looking at it. Read the passage 2-3 times and each time think what kind of mood did you detect from the author? This can be found in the language chosen by the author, the length of the sentences or the images created. 

Ways of working this out are with each reading jot down the "mood" you detected. After having read it 2-3 times carefully run back through the moods you found. With IB graders you can often have a a few tones that seem to come up often and eventually you'll be able to rattle of the tone with no issue.