How does Dunbar’s word choice affect the tone of the poem? He creates an encouraged tone by describing how he found joy in helping others. He sets a tone of relief by explaining how he finds solace in spending time in nature. He develops a troubled tone by describing ways he and those around him suffer. He suggests a tone of resignation by accepting the futility of seeking relief from his sadness.

This question is about Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "The Lesson". The speaker of this poem is suffering. He compares his life to a cold winter that "knew no spring". However, as he listens to the song of a mocking-bird, he realizes he can also sing to others. He understands that, through his words, he has the power to encourage, to lift someone else. And, as he does it, he finds that altruistic action has the power to make himself happy. Helping others becomes, by the end of the poem, the speaker's source of joy:

So I sang a lay for a brother’s ear

In a strain to soothe his bleeding heart,

And he smiled at the sound of my voice and lyre,

Though mine was a feeble art.

But at his smile I smiled in turn,

And into my soul there came a ray:

In trying to soothe another’s woes

Mine own had passed away.