A Poison

Tree
by William Blake

William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757, to

James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings
died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having
visionsat four he saw God put his head to the window;
around age nine, while walking dathrough the countryside, he
saw a tree filled with angels. Although his parents tried to
discourage him from lying," they did observe that he was
different from his peers and did not force him to attend
conventional school. He learned to read and write at home. At
age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his
parents sent him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake
began writing poetry. When he turned fourteen, he apprenticed
with an engraver because art school proved too costly. One of
Blakes assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at
Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles
from which he would draw inspiration throughout his career.
After his seven-year term ended, he studied briefly at the Royal
Academy.

I
I
I
I

was angry with my friend:

told my wrath, my wrath did end.
was angry with my foe:
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.

Stanza 1
The persona was angry with his friend. He told
him about his feeling and the anger melted away.
They stayed friends. He was angry with his
enemy. He kept his feeling to himself and did not
sort it out. His anger grew intense. He became
wrathful.

Stanza 2
Day and night, his anger grew deeper. His fear
and tears made it even worse. He put a friendly
face to cover up his anger.

Stanza 3
The angry feeling grew so strongly inside the
persona that it became a poison tree. The
persona compared it to an apple tree that bore
fruit or an apple bright. The enemy knew the
apple was belonged to the persona, but still it was
attractive to him.

Stanza 4
The apple succeed to attract the enemy, who
sneaked into the garden at night to steal the
apple. The enemy ate the apple and was
poisoned by it. The next morning, the persona
saw his enemy lying on the ground under the
tree.

SETTING

THEMES

TONE & MOOD

LANGUAGE & STYLE

MORAL VALUES