A literary critic first attempts to identify the characteristics of a text, and then to assess how well those characteristics serve the purpose of that text. The present research aimed at study of the effect of tone on the extent to which the authorial intent has been conveyed by Shahnameh through the use of tone. Given tone falls under the heading of language varieties, this research studied tone as a factor involved in language. Leo Spitzer believed that each word of a text reflects the way the writer felt about the subject, so one only have to identify what linguistic performance has made the use of a certain word inevitable. Therefore, tone, which represents the emotive color of language, somehow reflects the thoughts and attitude of the poet towards objective and subject issues. Given Shahnameh is among texts that are extremely influenced by a particular literary genre and intellectual trend, the factor of tone can both serve to reveal the intellectual background of the writer, and provide the reader with a key to atmosphere, language and social context of the text. The results of this research, thus, suggested that despite mythical-epic discourse is the dominant discourses in Shahnameh, the tones representing the emotional feelings of the narrator toward what is happening or being described in the story have been properly used when appropriate.
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