Identify the tone Mari Evans uses in her poem, "I am a black woman."

In Marie Evans' poem "I am a black woman," the tone is one
of perseverance and hope in the face of great pain and
loss.

The speaker compares her life to a song, but one
riddled with tears, written in a minor key, "minor" referring perhaps to "minority" and
the struggle and denigration of that experience. However, although her song may not be
heard in the daylight, it is humming in the night: this line is repeated again,
inferring that it pulses on...a song that does not end—like the spirit of the black
woman. The fact that a comparison is made to song indicates a sense of something
positive.

There is nothing positive in the second stanza.
The speaker talks of loss: her lover who leapt screaming into the ocean, gone forever
(we assume); she gives birth ("my issue") while working in the cane fields; Nat (whoever
he is to her) is lost, swinging—I would take this to mean he was lynched, while she
cried countless tears at the pain of loss.

Next the speaker
talks of hearing her son's scream (figuratively) for peace, all the way from title="Anzio" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzio">Anzio, the site of
fighting during World War II between the American and Allied Forces against Germany; she
has learned about places like href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Nang">Da Nang (in South Vietnam,
during the Vietnam War) and href="http://www.historynet.com/korean-war-battle-on-pork-chop-hill.htm">Pork Chop
Hill (the scene of a raging two-day battle during the Korean War) "in
anguish."

When the speaker mentions "the gas" and "trigger
tired fingers," these also seem to speak of the trappings of war, that she may well have
experienced vicariously through the descriptions and stories told to her by the men in
her life.

In the last stanza, the tone changes again. The
speaker identifies herself as she did at the beginning: "I am a black woman." However,
now it would seem (with all the speaker has shared before) that the
speaker is not one woman, but speaks for all black women,
particularly those who have lost their men. "My mate leap screaming to the sea" may
refer to the black captive whose man jumped into the sea rather than living enslaved
amidst the horrors of a slaving ship. Giving birth working in the cane fields speaks to
slavery. "Nat's swinging body" would refer historically to men lynched, especially in
the South. "The gas" as well as the locations of men engaged in battle, speak of wars to
which young black men traveled and lost their physical well-being or their
lives.

All of these descriptions
create a tone of suffering and loss. However, the theme of constancy that is introduced
in the first stanza is continued again in the third stanza, along with hope and
encouragement. The speaker notes that she is as tall and strong as a cypress tree, the
wood of which is durable, tough. Her perseverance cannot be understood or measured: it
defies comprehension, especially in the face of so much adversity. She will continue to
thrive despite the "place and time and circumstance assailed." Her spirit is "impervious
/ indestructible." This spirit of woman encourages others who have also suffered to
"Look on me and be renewed."

Evans' tone starts with the
sense of steadfastness; she then presents the images of loss and death. However, she
concludes with images of strength and hope. The speaker notes that she has survived:
"she" being the black women of the past. She presents the essence of survival and
imperviousness to the reader: look on what the past has done, and take heart; allow hope
to fill your heart.