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A Poison Tree: William Blake

The poem describes how anger grows when it is not expressed openly. The persona was angry with a friend and told them, ending the wrath, but was angry with a foe and kept it inside. The persona nurtured the anger, which grew into a bright apple. The foe ate the apple and lay dead under the tree, leaving the persona glad. The persona's suppressed anger towards the foe grew and ultimately killed them.

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106 views

A Poison Tree: William Blake

The poem describes how anger grows when it is not expressed openly. The persona was angry with a friend and told them, ending the wrath, but was angry with a foe and kept it inside. The persona nurtured the anger, which grew into a bright apple. The foe ate the apple and lay dead under the tree, leaving the persona glad. The persona's suppressed anger towards the foe grew and ultimately killed them.

Uploaded by

Pam Fadzli
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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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 and 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.

William Blake

HOTs Questions + Answers

1.    What does the persona do with his/her anger of the enemy?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

2.    “I told it not, my wrath did grow.”


     Unstable emotion should never be kept inside. How can you release it? Provide a reason for your answer.

     Method:
     Reason:.

3.    What would you do if you had a misunderstanding with your foe?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

4.    Why do you think the persona did not tell his foe about his wrath?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

5.    What two things can you learn from this poem?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

6.    “Till it bore an apple bright”


      Do you think revenge solves problems? Give a reason for your answer.
      Opinion:
      Reason:

7.    How does the persona feel about his/her foe lying under the tree in the morning. Give a reason for your answer.

8.    ‘I was angry with my friend.’


     How would you avoid getting angry with a friend. State a good effect of your action.
Method:.
Reason:

9.    ‘I was angry with my foe’


State one bad effect of anger and suggest a solution to manage anger.
Effect:.
Solution:

10. What is the poem about?

11. What lessons have you learnt from the poem? State two.
a.       .
b.      

12. Why does the foe want the apple?


______________________________________________________________________________________________

13.    In stanza 1, what happens to an anger that is not settled?


______________________________________________________________________________________________

14.    What does the word “deceitful” mean?


______________________________________________________________________________________________

15.    In stanza 2, which phrase suggests that the persona pretended and used tricks?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

16    In stanza 3, which phrase tells you that the persona kept his anger all the time?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

17.    What does the tree symbolise?


______________________________________________________________________________________________

18 .What emotion is expressed in Stanza 1 ?


______________________________________________________________________________________________

19. Which word in stanza 2 that has the same meaning as “dishonest”?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

20. What happened to the persona’s foe eventually and how did the persona react to this?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

21. What would you do if you had a misunderstanding with your enemy? Suggest 2 ways.
1.
2.

22. In stanza 1, what happened to the persona when he did not express his anger?
.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

23 In stanza 3, what did the apple refer to?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

24. In stanza 4, why did the persona feel happy?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

25 In this poem, the persona was angry with his foe. If you were the persona’s friend, what advice would  you
give to him?
Advice 1  :
Advice 2 :

26. What did the persona do when he was angry with his friend?
______________________________________________________________________________________________

27 .In stanza 2, how did the persona allow his anger to grow?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

28. In stanza 3, what does the word it refer to?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

29. If you were the persona, would you have been glad to see your “foe outstretched beneath the tree”? Give a reason
to
support your answer.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

30 In stanza 1, who is the persona angry with?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

31.Which word in stanza 1 shows the persona is similar to an apple tree?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

32 In stanza 2, what does the word ‘it’ refer to?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

33 How would you feel if you had a misunderstanding with your friend? Explain.
Feelings :
Explanation  

34.Which phrase is stanza 1 has the same meaning as ‘kept his anger to himself’
______________________________________________________________________________________________

35.What did the persona do to ensure that the tree grew healthily?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

36 ‘In the morning glad I see


My foe outstretched beneath the tree’
In your opinion, how did the persona feel that morning?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

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