A Poison Tree

by William Blake

The poet’s background

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and
printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential
figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. Although Blake was
considered mad by contemporaries for his strange views, he is admired by critics later on for his
expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical feelings in his work. Blake
was mainly influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.

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 & 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.

Line no. Line
1 I was angry with my friend:
2 I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
3 I was angry with my foe:
4 I told it not, my wrath did grow.
Stanza Two
Line no. Line
1 And I watered it in fears,
2 Night and morning with my tears;
3 And I sunned it with smiles,
4 And with soft deceitful wiles.
Stanza Three
Line no. Line
1 And it grew both day and night,
2 Till it bore an apple bright.
3 And my foe beheld it shine.
4 And he knew that it was mine.
Stanza Four
Line no. Line
1 And into my garden stole
2 When the night had veiled the pole; He went into the garden at night when it was
3 In the morning glad I see
4 My foe outstretched beneath the
tree.
Stanza One
Interpretation
The persona was angry with his friend.
When he told his friend about it, his anger
disappeared.
He was once angry with his enemy
But the persona did not talk about his anger, so his
anger got bigger and bigger. (The feeling became
worse).
Interpretation
The persona treated his anger very much like a
plant. (A plant needs water and sun in order to grow).
He developed his anger more with his fears.
The anger got worse when he cried almost night and
day
The persona topped up his anger with fake smiles
(pretending to be happy in front of his enemy)
And he added deceit and tricks, maybe he was
planning something mischievous or bad.
So, the persona’s anger was growing bigger and
stronger (just like a growing tree).
Interpretation
Because of the persona's efforts, his “tree of anger”
eventually bore a bright and delicious apple.
His enemy saw the shiny apple (the fruit of the
persona’s anger)
And knew that the apple tree belonged to the
persona.
Interpretation
The enemy secretly sneaked into the persona’s
garden, like a thief.
extremely dark to steal/eat the apple
("the pole” possibly refers to the pole star, also
known as the North star or Polaris. It is a very bright
star and it stays fixed in the sky, which is normally
used in navigating folks safely through danger.)
But this star was not visible.
In the morning, the persona sees (maybe with a
happy feeling)
His enemy is lying under the tree (dead/unconscious
after eating the poison apple – the fruit that was
poisoned with the persona’s anger).
The poem is like someone narrating/ telling a story
about what happened or what he/she did.

STANZA 1 : BEGINNING

STANZA 2 : DEVELOPMENT (process)

STANZA 3 : DEVELOPMENT (product)

STANZA 4 : ENDING

THEMES:
 Anger
 Hatred
 Deceit
 Friend versus Foe
 The power of communication
 Good versus Evil

MORAL VALUES:
 Friendship
 Tolerance
 Patience
 Forgiveness
 Honesty/Sincerity
 Peace/Harmony

MORAL LESSONS:
 We must be cautious of the motives of other people
 Do not manipulate others, especially innocent people
 Have open communication in life
 Do not nurture hatred because it is destructive
 Anger management is important in life
 We should make friends with anybody and everybody
 Make peace, not war

Additional Information:

In A Poison Tree, William Blake intends to warn his readers that if they ignore his message
regarding the "deceitful wiles" that cause hatred to intensify due to a lack of communication, they
too can end up "outstretched beneath the tree" or be a person destroyed by his own "wrath." In
the poem, the persona's "foe" becomes less afraid of the persona, and does not realise the depth
of his hatred as the persona "sunned it with smiles" to mislead his enemy. The deceit becomes so
intense that it bears "an apple bright." Similar stories that involve apples are Adam and Eve
(when Eve first ate the apple, then deceived Adam and effectively poisoned his mind, and how
they lost their innocence before being sent down to Earth) and also in Snow White (when the
wicked queen deceives Snow White - she disguises as an old woman who gives Snow White a
red poison apple) .
PRACTICE 1
STANZA 1
1. What did the persona do when he was angry with his friend?
__________________________________________________________
2. What happened when the persona was angry with his foe?
__________________________________________________________
3. In your own words, describe “my wrath did grow” about the persona?
__________________________________________________________

STANZA 2
1. Name four things the persona did to make his anger grow.
(i) ___________________________________________________
(ii) ___________________________________________________
(iii) ___________________________________________________
(iv) ___________________________________________________

2. What did the persona do to pretend that he was not angry?

_________________________________________________________
3. Which phrase suggests that the persona had planned a devious strategy?
_________________________________________________________

STANZA 3
1. What does “it” refer to?
__________________________________________________________
2. Which line suggests that “the tree” is growing very well?
__________________________________________________________
3. Which line tells us that the persona’s enemy noticed the apple?
__________________________________________________________

STANZA 4
1. What does “And into my garden stole” tell us about the enemy?
__________________________________________________________
2. In your own words, describe the night.
__________________________________________________________
3. What may have happened to the enemy in the end?
__________________________________________________________
PRACTICE 2 (HOTS Questions)
1. In stanza 1, what may have caused the persona to be angry with his friend?
(i) _______________________________________________________
(ii) _______________________________________________________[2 marks]

2. In stanza 1, why do you think the persona did not want to tell his enemy that he was
angry?
_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

3. Why did the persona do all the things described in stanza 2?

_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

4. Based on stanza 2, in your opinion, did the persona’s enemy realise his deception?
Why?
_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

5. Based on stanza 3, why do you think the persona let his “tree of anger” grow so well?
_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

6. How did the persona manage to attract his enemy’s attention?

_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

7. Based on stanza 4, describe the persona’s feelings in the end. Why does he feel that
way?
_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

8. Based on the whole poem, explain what you understand by “a poison tree”.
_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]

9. “Honesty is the best policy”. Do you agree? Support your answer with a reason.
_____________________________________________________________[2 marks]
10. Anger management is very important. Give two reasons to support this statement.
(i) _______________________________________________________
(ii) _______________________________________________________[2 marks]
PRACTICE 3 (VOCABULARY)