Lines from the poem

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 watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my
tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

Literal Meaning

Figurative Meaning

1st stanza unresolved anger with the enemy

- The persona was angry with his friend but he
forgave him.
- Unfortunately when he was angry with his enemy,
he did not forgive him.

In life, we meet friends and

enemies.
When we are angry with our
friends, we usually talk about it.

2nd stanza - anger feeds the poison tree

-The seed of anger grows into a tree as it is watered
with fears and tears, and sunned with faked smiles
and pretence.He deceives people into thinking that
he is friendly when he is not.

However, when we are angry

with our enemies, we tend to
close our

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,

3rd stanza apple becomes temptation for the enemy

- After some time, the poison tree bears a red and
shiny apple. The apple symbolizes the personas
anger and pretence. It looks good but is actually
poisonous.
-His enemy sees the apple and is tempted by it even
though it was the personas.

And into my garden stole

When the night
had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath
the tree.

4th stanza revenge and its negative

effects
-On a starless night, the enemy trespass
into the personas garden to steal the
apple.
- He fell into the trap- he ate the apple
and died.
- The next morning, the persona was
happy to see him dead . He had his
revenge.

minds
and pretend
everything is okay.
If we bottle up our feelings or
repress tem, it will become
worse. The persona
did not manage his
anger, allowing it to
grow and become
uncontrolable.
Left unchecked, anger causes
revenge and even
death.

Theme :

Management of anger /

Lies and deception

SMART NOTES - Rachel Gnoh

Message : We should not bottle up negative feelings. /
We should forgive and forget. / We should
learn to express our feelings.
Moral Values : a) Forgiveness
b) Tolerance and patience
Persona : a cunning and revengeful person
Vocabulary :
wrath- extreme anger
foe enemy
deceitful- dishonest/ cheating
wiles- tricks/ pretence/ traps
bore- produced/ bear fruit/yielded
beheld- see/saw
veiled- disguised
outstretched lying
down with arms and legs spread out
night had veiled the pole- the pole star (Polaris) which usually serves as a guide or protector has been hidden by
night, so the enemy is esily tempted by the poison apple.
Set A
d) Who is the victim the persona or
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,

a) What happened when the persona

foe? Why ?

was angry at his

foe?.................................................

................

b) How did the persona feed his

anger?Give 2 ways

e) Why do you think the persona is

i)

happy to see his enemy

dead ?.............................................

ii)

...

And into my garden stole

When the night
had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath
the tree.
By
William Blake

c) How would you settle an

Set C

argument? ......................................

a) What is the theme of the poem?

.......................................

d) Would you be willing to say sorry

first ?

b) What does the apple symbolizes?

..

.
Set B

c) If the persona was your friend,

a) Explain the meaning of wrath.

what advice would you give

him?.........................................

b) What lesson did you learned from

the poem?

d) Name 2 qualities you would like in

your friend:

c) What could someone do to make

..

you angry ?

i)

..
ii)