Question

The courage that my mother had
Went with her, and is with her still:
Rock from New England quarried;
Now granite in a granite hill.

The golden brooch my mother wore
She left behind for me to wear;
I have no thing I treasure more:
Yet, it is something I could spare.
Oh, if instead she’d left to me

The thing she took into the grave!—
That courage like a rock, which she
Has no more need of, and I have.

(Edna St. Vincent Millay, “The Courage My Mother Had”)

What word best describes the tone of the poem above?

giddy
angry
reflective
perplexed
  

Help would be nice if anyone would like to give any.

Answer 1

Reflective would be my guess.

Answer 2

The persona here is being reflective.Meditating and considering this mother´s courage appears to be an attitude of someone who has just lost their mother.The persona thinks she needs the courage the mother had , but the mother is dead.The pain makes the persona utter these words as a final reflection on her mother´s courage.