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    A Poison Tree

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    Siti Aishah Arshad
    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" describes how anger grows if it is not expressed openly. The speaker was able to get over being angry at a friend by telling them, but their wrath grew when they did not express anger towards a foe. They nurtured their anger like a tree, deceiving the foe into thinking they were friends. Eventually the anger bore "fruit" in the form of a poisonous apple, which the foe ate and died under the tree, to the speaker's delight. The poem is an allegory showing how anger festers internally and can lead to harm if not addressed directly.

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    A Poison Tree

    Uploaded by

    Siti Aishah Arshad
    334 views4 pages
    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" describes how anger grows if it is not expressed openly. The speaker was able to get over being angry at a friend by telling them, but their wrath grew when they did not express anger towards a foe. They nurtured their anger like a tree, deceiving the foe into thinking they were friends. Eventually the anger bore "fruit" in the form of a poisonous apple, which the foe ate and died under the tree, to the speaker's delight. The poem is an allegory showing how anger festers internally and can lead to harm if not addressed directly.

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    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" describes how anger grows if it is not expressed openly. The speaker was able to get over being angry at a friend by telling them, but their wrath grew when they did not express anger towards a foe. They nurtured their anger like a tree, deceiving the foe into thinking they were friends. Eventually the anger bore "fruit" in the form of a poisonous apple, which the foe ate and died under the tree, to the speaker's delight. The poem is an allegory showing how anger festers internally and can lead to harm if not addressed directly.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    334 views4 pages

    A Poison Tree

    Uploaded by

    Siti Aishah Arshad
    William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree" describes how anger grows if it is not expressed openly. The speaker was able to get over being angry at a friend by telling them, but their wrath grew when they did not express anger towards a foe. They nurtured their anger like a tree, deceiving the foe into thinking they were friends. Eventually the anger bore "fruit" in the form of a poisonous apple, which the foe ate and died under the tree, to the speaker's delight. The poem is an allegory showing how anger festers internally and can lead to harm if not addressed directly.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    A Poison Tree - William Blake

    2013/06/07

    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 & 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.

    MEANING OF DIFFICULT WORDS

    1.

    Wrath - strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire.

    2.
    Deceit distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud;
    cheating
    3.

    Wiles Trick, trap

    4.

    Veiled conceal, lacking clarity or distinctness

    POETIC/LITERARY DEVICES
    1.

    Personification

    Waters the wrath with fear

    I told my wrath, my wrath did end

    2.

    Metaphor

    -The tree is considered as a wrath/anger


    -"Till it bore an apple bright", the apple is a metaphor for the "fruit" of his grudge.

    3.

    Alliteration

    -sunned and smiles


    -friend and foe
    -bore and bright

    4.

    Imagery

    - Throughout the poem

    5.

    Irony

    -the foe beneath the tree of hatred

    6.

    Repitition

    -I was angry with my friend I was angry with my foe

    7.

    Allusion

    -"Garden.. apple...tree" alludes to Adam & Eve, the Garden of Eden.

    STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS


    Stanza 1: William Blake speaks of someone, his friend and his foe, whom has he is
    angry with. When he says I told my wrath, my wrath did end after he said he was
    angry with his friend, he is saying he was able to get over being angry with his
    friend and forgot about it. Although, it is quite the opposite when he mentions I told
    it not, and my wrath did grow. Blake is saying that with his enemy, he allowed
    himself to get angry, and therefore, his wrath did grow.

    Stanza 2: In this stanza, Blake begins to make his anger grow and he takes pleasure
    in it, comparing his anger with something, in this case, a tree or plant. The speaker
    says he sunned it with smiles and and with soft, deceitful wiles. This means he is
    creating an illusion with his enemy saying he is pretending to be friendly to seduce
    and bring him closer.

    Stanza 3: And it grew both day and night and til it bore an apple bright are
    meaning that his illusion with his enemy is growing and growing until it became a
    strong and tempting thing. His illusion has a metaphor and it is an apple. After, his
    foe believes it shines, which means he thinks its true and means something, and
    takes Blake illusion seriously. And he knew it was mine suggests that he really
    thinks Blake is his friend.

    Stanza 4: Being the last stanza, Blake needed to come up with a conclusion. He has
    used the two lines in the morning glad I see and my foe outstretched beneath the
    tree to say that his foe finally fell to his tempting illusion and metaphorically,
    consumed his poison apple and died. So, obviously, his malicious intentions were
    hidden behind illusion and he prevailed over his enemy.

    CRITICAL APPRECIATION

    In the first stanza, the consequence of allowing anger to continue instead of


    stopping it as it begins is shown. This consequence is simply that it will continue to
    grow. However, as the poem progresses, it is seen that this continued growth of
    anger can yield harmful results as the enemy, or foe, is lured toward the tree and
    eats of its fruit, the poison apple. This kills his foe, as he is seen outstretched
    beneath the tree, a sight the speaker is glad to see the next morning. These final
    two lines explain one of the main themes of the poem, which is that anger leads to
    self-destruction. The speakers anger grows and eventually becomes so powerful
    that it has changes from simple anger with another person, to desire to see them
    dead. One of the subjects of Blakes work was the underworld, or Hell, and knowing
    this, it can be seen that the destruction which results from anger is not physical, but
    spiritual. In addition, the death of the foe, which the speaker is glad to see, does not
    spiritually affect the foe as the speaker is affected, but only physically harms the
    foe.

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