A Poison Tree By William Blake Poetry Analysis

This is a poetry analysis of the classic poem THE POISON TREE written by the poet William Blake. A straightforward poem about human emotions and their consequences. Studied in high schools all over the world.

1. A Poison Tree

By William Blake
A Poison Tree

AA
Poetry Analysis

2. A poison tree by William Blake1.
Theme2.
Mood and Tone3.
Structure4.
Language comprehension5.
Poetic device6.
Moral values7.
Presentation Overview:

3. A Poison Tree
William Blake
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 waterd 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 veil'd the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree

4. Theme

5. The poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake explores themes of
indignation, revenge, and the fallen state of mankind
1. The principal theme of the poem is how the suppression of anger
leads to the cultivation of anger
2. Burying anger rather than exposing it and acknowledging it, will
turn anger into a seed that will germinate
3.Other major themes of the poem include anger, hatred, and
revenge.

6. Mood and Tone

7. MOOD:
ANGER AND HATRED TOWARD HIS ENEMY.

8. CUNNING
COLD, BITTER
RELIEF, PLEASED
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 waterd 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 veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
TONE

9. Structure

10. Structure
01
The poem has four stanzas
03
The rhythm of the poem is
also straightforward and
regular which makes it very
easy to read, though not
necessarily to understand.
02
Each stanza consists of a
pair of rhyming couplets
in the regular repeated
pattern AABB
04
The straightforward and
seemingly simple way in which
Blake has written this poem
contrasts with the very complex
human emotions he is
describing.
A Poison Tree is written in quatrains . This straightforward
grouping of sets of four lines is one of the simplest and most
recognisable poetic forms.

11. Language comprehension

12. STANZA 1:
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.
The narrator is angry wiith a friend but when he tells his friend, the anger goes away.

The narrator is also angry with an enemy but in this case he says nothing, so the anger grows and grows
wrath - anger
foe- -enemy

13. STANZA 2
And I water‘d it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
The narrator describes how the word [water’d] - fed his anger. He cried tears of either rage or sadness (it is
unclear which emotion causes his tears)
His anger is constant: every “night” and every “morning” his anger and frustration is still there - it never di
dissapears .
However, he did not show his anger, on the outside, he pretended he was happy. By smiling at his foe, he
become quite skilled and cunning at deceiving his enemy
water’d - watered
sunned it with smiles -
pretend to becheerful
and bright like the sun
deceitful- dishonest, sly
wiles - cunning plans

14. STANZA 3
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.
The narrator describes how his anger grew until one day, it bore fruit. The narrator uses the image of a
growing tree as a metaphor for his growing anger
His enemy sees the beautiful apple that has grown and become jealous. He wants to take the apple that
belongs to the narrator

15. STANZA 4
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veil'd the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretch‘d beneath the tree.
At night, when it’s completely dark, the enemy sneaks into the narrator’s garden and steals his apple
However the enemy did not realise the apple was poisonous. After eating the apple, the enemy dies.
In tyhe morning, the narrator is happy to discover that his enemy lies dead beneath the apple tree
stole - snuck
outstretch’d-
outstretched

16. Poetic Device

17. Personification:
Rhyme scheme:
Metaphor:
The poet personifies the tree in the poem.
He gives it attributes of “growing,” “blossoming” and “smiling” which
mostly belong to humans.
It creates a sense of malevolence and danger associated with the tree.
The language of the poem is metaphorical. However, the title is entirely
metaphorical.
The poet uses the tree, night, nurture, fear and fruit as metaphors in this
poem.
The poem follows an AABB rhyme scheme. Each stanza of this poem
consists of two rhyming couplets. This poem has a sing-song quality.

18. Alliteration:
Irony:
Repetition:
Imagery:
Several examples of alliteration are “watered in fears” and “wrath did
end.
The poet uses “Garden”, “tree” “fruit”, “enemy” and many other vital
images in the poem with vivid descriptions of other natural objects.
The second stanza of the poem is ironic. The poet resolves his anger with
his friend quickly but anger towards a foe grows into a poisonous tree
The phrase “my foe” is repeated several times throughout the poem,
emphasizing the distinction between the speaker’s friend and their
enemy.

19. Moral value

20. “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.”
A Poison Tree by William Blake teaches us about the importance of forgiveness and
expressing ourselves without any fear:
The moral of this 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
In addition, This poem carries a moral note which reflects on the evil of
envy and enmity, and the poisonous effect of hate and hostility