A Poison Tree
by 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 veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
Meanings of A Poison Tree
The poem “A Poison Tree” by William Blake presents the view of a first-person speaker about anger, fear, and love with friends. The poem highlights the main ideas of negativity and positivity and their open expression along with harms and benefits.
Meanings of 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 first-person speaker, who is possibly the poet himself, tells that he was angry with his friend, and he openly expressed that he was angry. It ended there and then. However, when he grew angry with his enemy, he could not tell him why he was angry, and it continued growing. The poet wants to state that when you tell the reason for your anger to a friend, it ends but as you definitely do not tell the same to your enemy, it never ends. Rather, it continues growing. The stanza adds to the main theme of negative emotions and the reason of their growth.
Meanings of Stanza -2
And I waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
The speaker again comes up with the same argument that he continued watering his fears every night and every morning and shed tears for it. He continued smiling thinking about how to remove this fear and thought about innocent wiles to harm his enemy. This means that if you have a fear of something or somebody, you continue raising stakes about your enmity and think about destroying your enemy. This stanza adds to the harm of negativity and the emotions associated with it.
Meanings of 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 speaker continues telling that his fear grew day and night. The more he thought of it, the more it grew until it bore a fruit, an apple. He means that it is perhaps the same apple that our forefathers Adam and Eve ate. When his enemy looked at that apple, he knew that it was his and that the enemy’s likely plan was to get it by hook or by crook. The speaker means that fears or anger grows very quickly into such sweet plans that have diabolical results for the enemy. This stanza moves the main idea of negative thinking forward.
Meanings of Stanza -4
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
The speaker states that his enemy planned to steal his apple and entered his garden with these intentions. In fact, this apple seemed to be a bait the speaker threw before his enemy to trap him. He was right that his enemy entered the garden at night and the night veiled the pole with which the apple was hanging. The enemy got caught and lay there prostrated. When the speaker saw him in the morning, he was glad that his enemy was trapped and lying there under the tree. This means that his plan worked, and he was successful in trapping his enemy. This also shows the power and results of negativity. This stanza completes the main idea of negative emotions and their power of destruction.
Summary of A Poison Tree
- Popularity: William Blake, a famous English poet, wrote “A Poison Tree”, a descriptive and straightforward poem about human emotions and their consequences. It was first published in Blake’s 1794 volume Songs of Experience. The poem illustrates the key human emotion, anger, and the consequences of being angry with someone. It also explains that anger becomes deadly and devious if it is not expressed honestly. However, the popularity of the poem lies in the fact that it deals with one of the common feelings of human life.
- “A Poison Tree” As a Representative of Hatred: The poet has discussed the duality of human nature in this poem. He says that his anger with his friend vanishes as soon as he expresses it. But he does not air his annoyance with his foe which grows and morphs into something poisonous. He further adds that he nurtures his anger with fear, resentments, sarcasm, and fake smiles. These feeling grow as a poison tree or a tree of anger, and a shiny fruit sprouts from the tree. One day, his enemy enters into his garden and dies after tasting this deceitful fruit. His death gives immense pleasure to the speaker.
- Major themes in “A Poison Tree”: Hatred, anger, revenge are the major themes of the poem. The poem discusses the catastrophic effects of unexpressed anger. The poet, very artistically, delves deep into the darker side of the human mind and captures the damage that anger does to the heart where it nourishes and becomes a poison. Blake explains that it is easy to forgive friends, but enemies are never forgiven. And, when a person tries to hide his hatred, it gradually grows into a mighty and destructive force.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in “A Poison Tree”
literary devices are tools that equip the writers to make their diction persuasive and stylish. They also convey their feelings, ideas, and emotions effectively. Blake has also employed some literary devices in this poem to show the negative impacts of anger. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem has been stated below.
- Antithesis: An antithesis is a figure of speech that refers to the juxtaposition of opposing or contrasting ideas. Blake has used this device in the first The opening line focuses on telling a friend about anger, and it vanishes. The next two lines show the opposite act about hiding his anger from the enemy, and it grows. This is a juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas.
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /w/ in “I told my wrath, my wrath did end”.
- Allusion: Allusion is a belief and an indirect reference of a person, place, thing or idea of a historical, cultural, political or literary significance. In this poem, “Garden”, “apple” and “tree” are the illusions of Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden.
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects different in nature. There is only one extended metaphor used in this poem. It is used in the second line of the third stanza “Till it bore an apple bright.” Here the apple is the metaphor of the fruit of his grudge.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal “Tree” symbolizes his wrath and anger whereas, “garden” is the symbol of the heart where the hatred is natured.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things with their five senses. William Blake has used visual imagery throughout the poem to make his reader create a mental picture such as, “And it grew both day and night.” “Till it bore an apple bright”, “My foe outstretched beneath the tree.”
The above analysis shows that Blake has beautifully employed these devices to show the negative impacts of anger. The appropriate and careful use of these devices has made the poem captivating and thoughtful for the readers.
Analysis of poetic devices in “A Poison Tree”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are four stanzas with four lines each in this poem.
- Quatrain: A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Here, each stanza is quatrain as the first one and the second one.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the rhyming scheme of AA BB.
- Rhyming couplet: There are two constructive lines of verse in a couplet, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme. For example,
“I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.”
- Trochee: These two types of syllables are used in trochee; the first is stressed and the second is an unstressed This pattern continues throughout the poem such as “I told my wrath; my wrath did end.”
Quotes to be Used
These lines can be used when narrating any personal experience of a fight. You can also teach children about the importance of forgiveness and expressing themselves without fear.
“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.”