A POISON TREE

I was angry with my friend; And it grew both day and night.

I told my wrath, my wrath did end. Till it bore an apple bright.

I was angry with my foe: And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine.
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And into my garden stole,

And I waterd it in fears,
When the night had veild the pole;
Night & morning with my tears:
In the morning glad I see;
And I sunned it with smiles,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
And with soft deceitful wiles.
 THEMES
• Managing Anger:
It is not totally wrong to be angry. However, it is rather important for us to know how to deal with anger. If we do
not nurture our anger, it might grow and be harmful to us. In this poem, two ways of handling anger were shown
with different outcomes. In the first scenario, the anger disappeared when we dealt with it but in the second the
anger grew into something aggressive and negative when we keep it inside us.

• Importance of Communication:
As shown in the poem, if the persona had communicated with his enemy, his anger would have been controlled.
However, his refusal to communicate has allowed anger to become something that is very destructive. Therefore it
is often better if we can communicate with people on the issues that is bugging us. The poet indirectly is trying to
persuade his readers to talk about their anger. We can talk about it not only with our friends but with our enemies
too. If we talk, the anger might just reduce and it might just ease our troubles. In turn, it will prevent us from
causing hurt unto others.
 PERSONA

•An intelligent and scheming person who

can act well and be hypocritical in his
friendship with his foe
 LANGUAGE

• Overall, the vocabulary is simple. Most of the words in the first

stanza are mono syllables.
• All the lines in the first stanza begin with “I”.
• This emphasizes that there is something personal and told from an
individual point of view.
 SETTING

•The persona’s garden. The garden where the apple

tree grows. The apple tree that features the apple
which lures the enemy.
 MORAL VALUES

•The poem tells us about the disastrous

consequences of one’s own failure to
communicate with another person.