POISON TREE Q&A

A Poison Tree By William Blake

Poison Tree Structure

A Poison Tree has four different stanzas. It starts as a first person poem, where the poet is
expressing his anger and hatred towards his enemy. The poem then takes a turn and ‘I’ is
replaced with the word ‘It’, a pronoun to depict the feelings of the enemy.
The poet has used a metaphoric style. For instance, apple depicts his vengeance; tree
depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his enemy, etc. Besides, Blake also
makes use of end-rhyme to really drive the message home. As in the first, second, third
and fourth line of the poem’s first para, you can see ‘friend’ and ‘end’, both at the end of
their respective lines, rhyme, and likewise does ‘foe’ and ‘grow’.

A Poison Tree Poetic Form

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 poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his foe in this
stanza, but he has also depicted the difference between two types of anger. He states that
when you are angry with a friend, you convince your heart to forgive him. Even though
you are hurt and you know that he did injustice to you, you try your best to forget the past
and end the feeling of vengeance in your heart.

On the other hand, when you are angry with an enemy, it takes ages for you to calm your
anger. Yet, the anger and the feeling of vengeance do not diminish, even with time. In
fact, the vengeance simply grows.

And I watered it in fears,

Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
The poet is making a confession in this stanza – it is he, who is solely responsible for the
hatred that has grown in his heart for his enemy. It is he, who has increased the
vengeance in his heart. He has nurtured the hatred with his fears, spending hours together,
crying for the ill that has been caused to him by his enemy.

He has also nurtured the hatred with his sarcastic smiles, imagining ill and cursing his
enemy to go through the same or worse sufferings that he has been through.

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 poet states that it is because of his dwelling in the same hatred, that it has grown
every day. The hatred gave birth to an apple. The fruit signifies the evil that has taken
birth in the heart of the poet. He states that he has now come to a point from where he
can’t turn back and forget about his enemy, until he does something to soothe his
vengeance.

Finally, the day comes when the poet’s enemy has met the evil fruit of vengeance, that he
has grown with his fears, tears and sarcasm. The fruit has now turned into a weapon.
When the enemy confronts with this anger, it is time for the weapon to serve the purpose
that it has been made for.

And into my garden stole.

When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
And, so the poet states, the very next morning, the purpose is served. When the poet
wakes up and glimpses in the garden, he sees something that relaxes his mind and calms
his vengeance forever. The darkness of the night acted like an invisible cloak for the poet.
Now, it is a beautiful morning.

There he is; his enemy, dead under the tree of his hatred. He bit the poisoned apple of his
vengeance. He is murdered.
Poem A Poison Tree : QUESTIONS
Poem A Poison Tree : Soalan Percubaan + Jawapan

1. In Stanza 1, which word in the poem means ‘the feeling of anger’?

wrath

2. In Stanza 2, what did the persona water his wrath with?

his/ the persona’s tears

3. Why is he angry with his foe?

Maybe his foe did something that he did not like.

4. List two things that you can learn from the poem
(i) We should forgive someone and not contain our anger.

(ii) When we are angry at someone, we should tell the person about it.

5. In Stanza 3, what does ‘It” refer to?

The wrath/ anger/ the tree

 In Stanza 1, what did the persona do when he was angry with his friend?
He told his friend about it and the anger was gone.

 Which line suggests that the persona’s enemy noticed the apple?
And my foe beheld it shine

 Anger management is very important. Give two reasons to support our

statement.
1. When we express our anger positively, we would feel relieved.
2. We need to control our anger because if we express it wrongly, we could create bigger
problems.
…………………………………………………………………………..
SELANGOR SET A
 In Stanza 1, who was the persona angry with?
His friend/ his enemy/ his foe

 In Stanza 1, how was the persona able to make up with his friend after
the misunderstand?
He told his anger to his friend and the anger ended.

 How did the persona feed his anger? Give one way.
He watered with his fears and tears

OR He sunned with smiles

OR He sunned it with soft deceitful wiles

 How would you feel when you gave misunderstanding with your friend?
Explain.
Feeling: I feel upset/ sad/ disappointed/ lonely

Explanation: I have no one to talk to.

……………………………………………………………………….

JOHOR SET 2
 How does the persona feel towards his foe?
Angry / wrath

 Which word in the poem means devious?

Deceitful

 Which line tells you the persona is pleased to see the foe dead?
In the morning glad I see

 Do you think it is right for the persona to treat his enemy in such a way?
No, it is not the right thing to do.

 How would you treat your enemy?

I would discuss with the enemy about our misunderstanding and forgive him.

…………………………………………………………………..

JOHOR SET 3
 In Stanza 1, who are the people the persona is angry with?
His friend and his foe
 What happened when he did not tell his foe his anger?
His anger grew/ his anger intensified.

 Which line in Stanza 4 shows that the persona is not upset with what had
happened to his enemy?
In the morning glad I see

 We can conclude from the poem that harbouring anger towards someone
is bad. If you are in a similar situation, what would you do? Give reasons
for your decision.
I would discuss with my enemy about my anger. This is because keeping anger is
bad for our emotion.

……………………………………………………………………..

KEDAH
 In Stanza 1, who are the people the persona is angry with?
His friend and his foe

 In Stanza 2, state a characteristic that describe the persona

Deceitful/ cunning/ devious

 In Stanza 4, which line indicates that the foe is dead

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

 What is the best thing to do when you are angry?

Action: I will go to the beach and scream out loud.

Reason: By this way, I can vent out my anger and think about it without hurting
anyone.

…………………………………………………………………….

PERAK TENGAH
 In Stanza 1, which word has the same meaning as enemy?
Foe

 In your opinion, what does the apple symbolize in the poem?

The wrath/ the anger

 In Stanza 4, which line shows that the sky was dark?

When the night had veiled the pole
 Putting yourself in the persona’s shoe, list two ways you can resolve a
conflict that you may have with your enemy without hurting one another.
(i) I will have a good discussion with my enemy.

(ii) I will go to a councillor to get a good advice about my conflict.