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A POISON TREE

BY : WILLIAM BLAKE
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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 & 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.
Understanding the poem:
Stanza 1 opens with how the persona was
angry with his friend. He told his friend about
his anger and the anger then disappeared.
The persona then goes on to describe a
scenario when he was angry with his enemy.
He did not tell his enemy that he was angry,
thus, his anger kept on growing!
In stanza 2, the persona talks more on how his
anger grows. He compares his growing anger to a
growing plant where he waters the plant with his
fears and his tears. However, he did not give it real
sunshine. He merely gives smiles and deceitful
wiles. A wile is a cunning trick. Here, it suggests
that he may be planning some sort of a devious
scheme for his enemy- and this deceitful scheme
is just like the sunshine for the growing plant
Stanza 3 describes how the persona’s efforts
eventually bore fruit. The fruit is the apple
bright. The enemy clearly recognises that
the fruit belongs to the persona.

Stanza 4 reveals that the enemy had seen


the apple and stole it. The enemy had
stolen the apple during the night when it
was dark as the “pole” – the North Star was
all covered up. Thus, the star was not visible-
to guide the enemy out of the danger. The
enemy eats the apple and most probably –
he dies.
SETTING
PLACE-The persona’s garden. The garden where the apple tree grows.
Probably in England, but it can be anywhere as the poem is anallegory.

TIME-Not specified, but events happen from morning until night for a period
of time.
METAPHOR
T
H
• Managing Anger: It is not totally wrong to be angry. However,
E it is rather important for us to know how to deal with anger. If
we nurture our anger, it might grow and be harmful to us. In
M this poem, two ways of handling anger were shown with
different outcomes. In the first scenario, the anger
E disappeared but in the second the anger grew into something
aggressive and negative.
S
• Importance of Communication: As shown in the poem, if the persona had
communicated with his enemy, his anger would have been controlled.
However, his refusal to communicate has allowed anger to become
something that is very destructive. Therefore it is often better if we can
communicate with people on the issues that is bugging us. The poet
indirectly is trying to persuade his readers to talk about their anger. We can
talk about it not only with our friends but with our enemies too. If we talk, the
anger might just reduce and it might just ease our troubles. In turn, it will
prevent us from causing hurt unto others.
MESSAGES
- Do not suppress negative feelings
- We must resolve the issue if we have negative feelings like anger.
- Remaining silent about our anger only makes us bitter and even evil
- Suppressed anger is dangerous as it can have a destructive effect on
society.
MORAL VALUES
• Truthfulness
• Forgiveness
• Rationality
• Moderation
THE END

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