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A Poison Tree Notes

The poem describes a speaker's anger towards an enemy that grows into a poisonous tree. [1] The speaker nurtures their anger by watering it with tears and fears, and giving it sunshine with smiles and deceit. [2] The anger grows steadily until it bears a bright but poisonous apple. [3] The enemy sees the apple and takes it, then dies after eating it. The poem warns about the dangers of repressing anger and hatred.

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Siti Nur Najmin Aminuddin
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339 views

A Poison Tree Notes

The poem describes a speaker's anger towards an enemy that grows into a poisonous tree. [1] The speaker nurtures their anger by watering it with tears and fears, and giving it sunshine with smiles and deceit. [2] The anger grows steadily until it bears a bright but poisonous apple. [3] The enemy sees the apple and takes it, then dies after eating it. The poem warns about the dangers of repressing anger and hatred.

Uploaded by

Siti Nur Najmin Aminuddin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Prepared by: Najmin

Form 5 Literature - Poem


A POISON TREE by William Blake

Stanza 1

Line Stanza 1 Line by line meaning


1 I was angry with my friend I was angry with my friend
2 I told my wrath, my wrath did end I told my wrath(anger) to my friend and I got over my
anger.
3 I was angry with my foe I was angry with my foe (enemy)
4 I told it not, my wrath did grow I did not tell my wrath to my foe, so my anger grew.

Stanza 2

Line Stanza 1 Line by line meaning


1 And I watered it in fears. I treated my anger like a plant. A plant needs water and
sunshine. Likewise, everyday I nourished my wrath with
water in the form of tears and fears.
2 Night and morning with my tears I also gave my anger-tree sunshine in the form of smiles
3 And I sunned it with smiles. and cunning tricks.
4 And with soft deceitful wiles.

Stanza 3

Line Stanza 1 Line by line meaning


1 And it grew both day and night My tree of anger grew steadily everyday until it bore an
2 Till it bore an apple bright apple. It was shiny but it was poisonous.
3 And my foe beheld it shine My enemy saw the shiny apple and he knew it was mine.
4 And he knew it was mine

Stanza 4

Line Stanza 1 Line by line meaning


1 And into my garden stole One night, when darkness hid the pole star, my foe crept
2 When the night had veiled the pole into the garden. He stole my apple.
3 In the morning glad I see In the morning, I was happy to see my foe lying dead
4 My foe outstretched beneath the tree under the tree.

Themes:

1. Forgiving and forgetting


2. The importance of communicating when there is a misunderstanding.
3. The dangers of repressing anger
4. Dangers of wrath and hatred.
Prepared by: Najmin
Form 5 Literature - Poem
iThink
Write four suitable adjectives to describe the person and the persona’s poison tree in the poem.

The persona

The persona’s
poison tree

HOTS

LET’S DISCUSS ABOUT YOUR ENEMY!

Think about one of your enemies.

Why do you consider them as your enemy?

How did you treat them?

Share it with the class!

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