In what tone is the poem "To India My Native Land" written? Give two examples (from the beginning and the end of the poem) to prove your point.

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's "To India My Native Land" starts out in a laudatory tone as the speaker glorifies the India of old before it became colonized. This tone is first indicated by the irrepressibly enthusiastic exclamation in the first line to initiate the speaker's address to his homeland (i.e., "My country!"); this tone is further cemented by the metaphor whereby India is depicted as a grand deity of worship, complete with "a beauteous halo," in the second line.
However, when the focus shifts onto India in her present state by line five, the metaphor used to represent the country brings a sorrowful tone of lamentation. Instead of a proud, haloed deity, India becomes: "Thy eagle pinion is chained down at last." An eagle carries noble connotations of freedom; however, an eagle left unable to freely take flight (chained down) suggests the unnatural subjugation of an India which would otherwise be noble and free.
This imagery thus evokes a tone of lament for India's current subjugation that necessarily pines for the inherent glories which flourished in her past. This is aurally reinforced by the sound painting since the many long "o" vowels mimic lamentation: such as in the words "rolled," "story," "no," "more," and "behold." The end of the poem, in the last two lines, modulates yet again to a tone of wistful reflection, coupled with one of wishing the country well in its future:

And let the guerdon of my labour be,My fallen country! One kind wish for thee!

The speaker has not given up hope for the future of his country entirely or else he would not bother to give it a "kind wish" as he does. The sweetness of this well-wishing for his native land is further enforced by the increased euphony afforded by the rhyming couplet of the concluding two lines. The couplet rhymes (with be and thee) fall on the heels of each other to afford stronger euphony or harmony than the previous alternating rhymes had.