Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 39 views

    Zimmer 1 1 3

    Uploaded by

    mzimmer1000
    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" tells the story of a man who harbors anger towards both a friend and a foe. When angry with his friend, he expresses his wrath, which ends it. However, when angry with his foe, he says nothing and allows his wrath to grow instead. This wrath is metaphorically represented as a tree that he waters with tears and nurtures with smiles. The tree bears a bright apple that deceives the foe, who eats it and dies under the tree by morning. Through symbols of the tree and apple, and biblical allusions to Eden, the poem warns that failing to forgive will allow anger to fester and potentially destroy others.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Zimmer 1 1 3

    Uploaded by

    mzimmer1000
    39 views5 pages
    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" tells the story of a man who harbors anger towards both a friend and a foe. When angry with his friend, he expresses his wrath, which ends it. However, when angry with his foe, he says nothing and allows his wrath to grow instead. This wrath is metaphorically represented as a tree that he waters with tears and nurtures with smiles. The tree bears a bright apple that deceives the foe, who eats it and dies under the tree by morning. Through symbols of the tree and apple, and biblical allusions to Eden, the poem warns that failing to forgive will allow anger to fester and potentially destroy others.

    Original Description:

    1

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" tells the story of a man who harbors anger towards both a friend and a foe. When angry with his friend, he expresses his wrath, which ends it. However, when angry with his foe, he says nothing and allows his wrath to grow instead. This wrath is metaphorically represented as a tree that he waters with tears and nurtures with smiles. The tree bears a bright apple that deceives the foe, who eats it and dies under the tree by morning. Through symbols of the tree and apple, and biblical allusions to Eden, the poem warns that failing to forgive will allow anger to fester and potentially destroy others.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    39 views5 pages

    Zimmer 1 1 3

    Uploaded by

    mzimmer1000
    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" tells the story of a man who harbors anger towards both a friend and a foe. When angry with his friend, he expresses his wrath, which ends it. However, when angry with his foe, he says nothing and allows his wrath to grow instead. This wrath is metaphorically represented as a tree that he waters with tears and nurtures with smiles. The tree bears a bright apple that deceives the foe, who eats it and dies under the tree by morning. Through symbols of the tree and apple, and biblical allusions to Eden, the poem warns that failing to forgive will allow anger to fester and potentially destroy others.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    Zimmer 1

    A Poison Tree I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I watered it in fears, Night and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine. And he knew that it was mine, And into my garden stole When the night had veiled the pole; In the morning glad I see My foe outstretched beneath the tree. William Blake

    Zimmer 2 Mollie Zimmer English 2100 Professor Camargo 12 February 2013 Forgiveness William Blakes A Poison Tree is an errily happy poem which ends in destruction. The narrator, who is actually God, is unlike that of the one many know of. He thrives off the death that he has committed. Through the use of metaphors, symbolism, and underlying religious meanings, Blake develops a theme based on letting go of your anger and forgiving each other. Particular words and phrases in the stanzas are used to explain something greater than that of their actual meaning. The theme is to forgive those that one may feel uneasy towards. If this is not achieved, then one may fester feelings of hatred that build and build until they are dealt with accordingly. One must forgive in order to move on. A Poison Tree shows the repercussions of actions of an individual who thrives off his hate and inevitably destroys another human being. The first stanza seems relatively basic and to the point. God was angry with a friend and He confronted him about it. Though the same cannot be said for the foe. He was angry with his foe and decided not to confront him, which leads God to develop a strong dislike for the man. The use of the word wrath is a metaphor for poison. Later in the poem this wrath grows into a tree which produces an apple which all in itself are symbols and metaphors. The tree is a metaphor for the Tree of Knowledge which is present in the Garden of Eden.

    Zimmer 3 It is not until the second stanza that literary devices are used to achieve greater meaning. This stanza is in reference to the tree, which is a symbol for Gods hatred towards his foe. In the first line, And I watered it in fears, it is evident that the mans anger is growing towards his foe. This is made clear with the use of the word watered. In relation to the text and the theme, this line now reads, And my anger grew towards my foe. Continuously throughout this stanza, there are more references towards the nurturing of this wrath. Tears, or water, can then be described to show that the narrator is nurturing his anger. Along with this, sunned it with smiles is an example of that as well. Once the reader gets to the third stanza, one can see that something has grown due to the pent up anger. And it grew both day and night, /Till it bore an apple bright. The apple is a symbolism for the final product of the wrath, yet it is disguised and the foe does not know this. The apple is also symbolic for the apple that ruined the biblical figures Adam and Eve. The apple is seen as harmless yet it is laced with poison. In the third line, And my foe beheld it shine, the foe believes that the narrator is being true, though he is unknowingly being deceived. In the last stanza there is a reference to a garden. This garden is the Garden of Eden. By the last stanza, it is evident through symbolism and metaphors that the foe has fallen for the narratives deceitfully friendly gestures. This is shown in the last line. My foe outstretched beneath the tree. In other words, the foe has taken the bait in which the narrator kills the foe. In the morning glad I see, shows that the narrator takes pride in his actions and feels victorious.

    Zimmer 4 Though many people see God not in Blakes vision, He is intertwined in this poem. Unlike the God most people know, this God rejoices in killing his foe. Blakes poem is a warning against festering feelings of hatred. One must forgive or such feelings can grow to become deadly. Through the use of metaphors and symbolism, one can see that this is achieved.

    Molliea good start! Continue to bring in more textual evidence and make sure to use in-text citation. In addition, tighten up the tone so that it is more formal. Right now this essay doesnt meet the word count requirements, so youll need to continue working with the poem and discovering things to write about. One thing that will help you is if you organize your paragraphs as suggested in the assignment sheet: device by device, rather than stanza by stanza, which is what youve done here. If you talk about one device at a time, and find more instances of the device in the poem, and explain each one fully, youll soon find that you can meet the word count no problem. You might also consider this: metaphor, symbolism, and allusion are all, in many ways, the same device: figurative language. You could do three paragraphs on figurative language, and then see what you might discover in the poem regarding diction and rhythm as well. Looking forward to the completed essay! Ms. C.

    Zimmer 5

    You might also like