In literary criticism, the terms tone and voice are used loosely; the first translates generally as mood, and the second as author or style. This dissertation develops a more precise poetics of tone and voice through a study of the work of the American confessional poet, Anne Sexton. Because the terms originate in the contexts of orality and music, I emphasize the oral, performative cues which are imbedded in poetic diction, and the identity, or presence, that is constructed from language. Consequently, in this discussion, language is inseparable from the social context that shapes interpretation and performance.Sexton is paired with four contemporary poets to demonstrate the wide applicability of the poetics of tone and voice. The first chapter pairs Sexton with Margaret Atwood to examine how imagery constructs tone. I argue that a metonymic shift occurs from the image to the poem, so that the audience's emotional reaction to the image significantly influences its perception of verbal tone. The second chapter investigates how stock phrases, cliches, diction, and comparative tropes contribute to tone in the narrative fairy tale poems of Sexton and Sara Henderson Hay. These ornaments may not have a function in advancing the plot, but they teach us about the speaker's discursive practices, and her attitude toward the audience. The third chapter pairs Sexton with Leonard Cohen to explore the difficulties of moving from printed text to vocalization to musical performance. It considers the larger external processes that shape tone and voice, such as the author's textual and physical presences. The fourth chapter examines the socio-cultural implications behind voice and tone in the poetry of Sexton and Wanda Coleman, particularly the issue of feminine voices or feminine writing. I argue that poetic voices are both created and inherited, and that our notions of the poet's voice, in fact, betray our own assumptions about masculine, feminine, ethnic, and Anglo identities, as one cannot certainly "reach" the author through her constructed speakers.