Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Poison Tree by William Blake
A Poison Tree by William Blake
Stanza 1- I had a misunderstanding with my friend and was angry. I told my friend about my wrath. I got over
my anger and forgot it. But when I got angry with my foe, I didn't tell him about it. I bottled up my wrath and it
intensified. It grew and grew like a plant.
Stanza 2- My anger grew like a tree. I nourished my anger-tree with anger, suspicion and hatred. I was
suspicious of my foe and I was angry with him. But I tricked him to bring him closer to me. Outwardly, I smiled
and I was friendly to gain his trust.
Stanza 3- My "tree" was poisonous because it was full of anger, hatred and suspicion. Later, it bore a shiny
poison apple. My foe saw it and knew it was mine.
Stanza 4- One night when there were no stars, my foe came into my garden and stole my poison apple. He fell
into my trap. He ate the apple and died. In the morning, I was happy to see him lying dead under my poison
tree.
In this poem, the persona is angry after a misunderstanding with his friend and his foe. He talks about
the misunderstanding with his friend and gets over his anger. But he doesn't talk about his anger to his foe, so
his anger increases and grows into an anger-plant.
The persona treats his growing anger like a growing plant. He feeds the seed of his "plant" with anger
and hatred. He waters it with doubt, suspicion and hatred and he nourishes it with fake sunshine. He gives his
anger-plant "smiles" and "deceitful wiles". Outwardly, the persona smiles and is friendly to his foe so that he
will trust him and be close to him. He is scheming to trick and trap his foe. His increasing anger and hatred
grows into a poison tree. The poison is actually the persona's wrath and hatred for his foe.
Then the persona becomes spiteful, revengeful and murderous as his anger and hatred intensify. He
plots to kill his foe and his devious plan works when his poison tree bears a deadly poison apple. The persona's
foe sees it and is tempted to eat it. One dark night, he sneaks into the persona's garden and steals his poison
apple. Then he eats it and dies. The next morning, the persona is happy to see him lying dead under his poison
tree.
Setting
Place - in his garden , under the poison tree
Time - in the darkness of the night , the next morning
Tone
Anger, bitterness and maliciousness- The persona is extremely angry with his foe. As his anger intensifies, he
becomes scheming and murderous. In Stanza 4, the tone is also accusing. The persona accuses his foe of
stealing his apple in his garden at night.
Word vs Meaning