Diction/Tone choices: "Porphyria's Lover", "To his Coy Mistress" & "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

Diction is all about the words that you choose; the level of language that an author commits to. Diction can make a poem easily misunderstood or undoubtedly understandable. In Robert Browning's poem "Porphyria's Lover," his choice of words creates an emotional affect on the reader. "Three times her little throat around, / And strangled her. No pain felt she; / I am quite sure she felt no pain" (Browning l. 40-42) is an example of how his words strike the reader. The speaker seems to be emotionless yet calm. The manner of his tone creates an eerie effect that spills from the page.
In Andrew Marvell's "To his Coy Mistress," his choice of diction creates a convincing tone from the speaker to the woman in which the poem was intended. The speaker is essentially laying down the foundation of his case; trying to persuade the woman to subdue to his advances. Marvell uses hyperbole's often, "My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires, and more slow" (Browning l. 11-12). This quote describes the speakers love bigger than an entire empire and the tone of exaggeration comes to the surface. The tone of his poem is far from serious and somewhat playful.
Perhaps the most difficult to comprehend is John Keats' poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn." The diction he uses is often hard to follow and choice of words. In the poem he talks about the beauty of an urn and its representations in life. The tone of this poem is upbeat and happy as expressed in this line of the poem: "Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed / Your leaves, nor ever id the spring adieau; /And, happy, melodist, unwearied / For ever piping songs for ever new" (Keats l. 20-24). The attitude of the author makes the poem have a rhythm almost like a song has a tune.
Diction and tone go hand in hand in many poems. The language is in a direct relation to the attitude and the message the author wants to bring to his readers.