A POISON TREE: LITERATURE: FORM 5 POEM

POISON TREE DISCUSSION A discussion on the poem 'A POISON TREE' by William Blake
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.

Wiles

A trick to deceive
A wile is a cunning trick. Here, it suggests that he may be
planning some sort of a devious scheme for his enemy

Wrath

Extreme anger

Foe

An enemy

Outstretch

Stretch out/ extend/ spread out

Veiled

When the night veiled the pole

A concealing cover

pole

North pole/ South pole

Watered it
in fears
and
sunned it
with
smiles

he "waters" and "suns" his anger, much like one would water
and provide sunlight for a tree.
As the poem puts it, he "waters" the anger with his tears, and
then "suns" it with the false smiles he offers his enemy.
The poet means for us to see ourselves in the persona who
nurtured his anger at his enemy by watering it with his
"tears" and sunning it with his deceitful "smiles." If we stuff
down our anger, pretend we're happy, and don't resolve our
conflicts, our anger will grow and grow until it becomes like a
poisonous plant that will hurt other people.

Till it bore
an apple
bright.
And my foe
beheld it
shine.

Bore : to produce or yield

Past tense of bear
( bear fruits)
Beheld it shine : see it shining
The narrator explains that the plant (his anger) grew "both day
and night" until it produced fruit. The narrator says that it is an
apple, but it's simply a metaphor for a lure. The speaker uses
that apple to lure his enemy into the garden and be poisoned.
Then he grows angry at an enemy. Rather than communicate
with his enemy and hash the problem out, he holds the anger
inside. As the poem puts it, he "waters" the anger with his tears,
and then "suns" it with the false smiles he offers his enemy.
Eventually, this anger grows and grows until it becomes a tree
that bears a shiny, poisonous apple. The enemy eats the apple
and dies.

Metaphor-A growing apple tree is an extended metaphor for the growing anger
and it shows how destructive anger can be. The title A Poison Tree is the central
metaphor. The apple has become poisonous as it has been nurtured with
anger. In other words, the tree grew with negative emotions. When we stay
angry for a long time, we may become A Poison Tree (a person full of
negative emotions).

Setting-The personas garden. The garden where the apple tree grows. The apple
tree that features the apple which lures the enemy.
Symbolism-The apple represents anger. The apple grows large till it ripens.
Similarly, anger grows till it becomes vengeance.

Themes:
Managing Anger: It is not totally wrong to be angry. However, 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 this poem, two ways of handling anger
were shown with different outcomes. In the first scenario, the
anger disappeared but in the second the anger grew into something
aggressive and negative.
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.
Moral Value
The poem tells us about the disastrous consequences of ones own failure to
communicate with another person.
What is the poem about:
"A Poison Tree" examines the effects of unresolved anger.
In the poem, the narrator or persona first gets angry at a friend. He talks to his
friend and that dialogue resolves his problem so that he can forgive his friend.
Then he grows angry at an enemy. Rather than communicate with his enemy and
hash the problem out, he holds the anger inside.
As the poem puts it, he "waters" the anger with his tears, and then "suns" it with

the false smiles he offers his enemy.

Eventually, this anger grows and grows until it becomes a tree that bears a shiny,
poisonous apple. The enemy eats the apple and dies.
Our personal connection to poem:
The poet means for us to see ourselves in the persona who nurtured his anger at
his enemy by watering it with his "tears" and sunning it with his deceitful "smiles."
If we stuff down our anger, pretend we're happy, and don't resolve our conflicts, our
anger will grow and grow until it becomes like a poisonous plant that will hurt other
people. The poet shows us a different and healthier path in the first stanza, where
the persona confronts the friend who makes him angry and works out the problem.
The poem suggests that we have a choice about how we behave and that resolving
our issues with others is far better than letting them fester.

What is the moral

of the poem "A
poison tree?"

In this Blake poem, an individual who hides and nurses

his anger is contrasted with a person who goes
immediately and tells his "friend" why he is angry.
The person who confesses his anger is able to get over
it and move on.
The person who buries it from his "enemy" pretends
everything is all right. Meanwhile, beneath the surface,
the anger festers.
The man waters his anger with his tears and suns it with
false smiles. By doing this he cultivates his anger so
that it grows bigger and bigger.
Finally, the anger grows into a tree that bears
poisonous fruit.
The moral of the poem is that we should not nurse
our anger towards another person but confront the
person who hurt us and work out our issues
directly. Otherwise, we become something
poisonous that destroys other people.

In the poem "A Poison

In "The Poison Tree," the point of the poem is that the anger

Tree" why did the

persona's wrath end
when he told his friend
about it?

we hold onto grows into something ugly and poisonous that

hurts other people.
Blake contrasts this to anger we get over.
One good way to overcome anger is to talk about it with the
person who angered you. If you can trust another person
enough to confide in him and her, you can clear up
misunderstandings and give the other person the opportunity
to tell his side of the story and explain what happened. It also
offers the other person the chance to apologize, because often
people don't even know they have offended. With this kind of
communication, forgiveness and reconciliation can occur. Then
you can move on with your life.
In contrast, as the poem shows, if you dwell on your wrath
without trying to resolve it, it becomes bigger and bigger and
more and more poisonous--Blake imagines it as a poisonous
apple--and becomes especially poisonous if you pretend to the
person who offended you that nothing is wrong.

How did the

persona of "A
Poison Tree" deal
with his anger
while his enemy
was alive? Give
two things he did.

In "The Poison Tree," the persona deals with his

anger while his enemy is still alive by nurturing it.
He does this in two ways. First, as Blake puts it, he
"water'd it in fears / night and morning with my tears."
This means that when the persona wakes up in the
morning and when he goes to bed at night he
remembers over and over how he has been hurt by
his enemy. He dwells on his "fears": how his enemy
could hurt him again, and he thinks about his enemy
with "tears" over the original injury.
The persona also pretends that nothing is wrong.
Blake states it this way: "I sunn'd it [his anger] with
smiles / And with soft deceitful wiles." Rather than
confront his enemy or talk it through, the persona
stuffs his anger down and pretends everything is fine.
He smiles at his enemy. He is kind on the surface to

his enemy. Meanwhile, the unresolved anger grows

and grows.
We don't know how the enemy injured the persona,
but the poem leads us to believe that whatever it was,
the persona blows it (or grows it) all out of proportion
both by dwelling on it silently and by pretending
publicly that he is happy.
Sources:
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. Repetition
-I was angry with my friend I was angry with my foe
7. Allusion
-Garden.. appletree alludes to Adam & Eve, the Garden of Eden.

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS

Stanza 1: The persona speaks of someone, his friend and his foe, whom 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. The persona is saying that with his enemy, he allows himself to get angry, and
therefore, his wrath does grow.

Stanza 2: In this stanza, the persona 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 the
personas illusion seriously. And he knew it was mine suggests that he really thinks the
persona is his friend.

Stanza 4: Being the last stanza, the persona 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 the personas 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.
Exercise

1. Why did the personas wrath end when he told his friend about it?
2. What happened when he did not tell his foe?
3. How did the persona nurture his wrath?

4. Why is and repeated three times in stanza 2?

5. What type of literary device is used in soft deceitful wiles? Why?
6. What does the poems title suggest about the content?
7. In your opinion, what is the persona really doing in stanza 2?