A POISON TREE : LITERATURE : FORM 5 POEM

A discussion on the poem 'A POISON TREE' by William Blake

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.

Wiles A trick to deceive
A wile is a cunning trick. Here, it suggests that he may be
planning some sort of a devious scheme for his enemy

Wrath Extreme anger

Foe An enemy

Outstretch Stretch out/ extend/ spread out

Veiled When the night veiled the pole

A concealing cover
pole North pole/ South pole

Watered it in he "waters" and "suns" his anger, much like one would water and
fears and provide sunlight for a tree.
sunned it with As the poem puts it, he "waters" the anger with his tears, and
smiles then "suns" it with the false smiles he offers his enemy.
The poet means for us to see ourselves in the persona who
nurtured his anger at his enemy by watering it with his "tears"
and sunning it with his deceitful "smiles." If we stuff down our
anger, pretend we're happy, and don't resolve our conflicts, our
anger will grow and grow until it becomes like a poisonous plant
that will hurt other people.

Till it bore an Bore : to produce or yield

apple bright. Past tense of bear
And my foe ( bear fruits)
beheld it shine.

Beheld it shine : see it shining

The narrator explains that the plant (his anger) grew "both day
and night" until it produced fruit. The narrator says that it is an
 apple, but it's simply a metaphor for a lure. The speaker uses that
apple to lure his enemy into the garden and be poisoned.

Then he grows angry at an enemy. Rather than communicate

with his enemy and hash the problem out, he holds the anger
inside. As the poem puts it, he "waters" the anger with his tears,
and then "suns" it with the false smiles he offers his enemy.

Eventually, this anger grows and grows until it becomes a tree

that bears a shiny, poisonous apple. The enemy eats the apple
and dies.

Metaphor-A growing apple tree is an extended metaphor for the growing anger
and it shows how destructive anger can be. The title “A Poison Tree” is the central
metaphor. The apple has become poisonous as it has been nurtured with anger.
In other words, the tree grew with negative emotions. When we stay angry for a
long time, we may become “A Poison Tree” (a person full of negative emotions).

Setting-The persona’s garden. The garden where the apple tree grows. The apple
tree that features the apple which lures the enemy.

Symbolism-The apple represents anger. The apple grows large till it ripens.
Similarly, anger grows till it becomes vengeance.

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 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 but in
the second the anger grew into something aggressive and negative.
 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.

Moral Value
The poem tells us about the disastrous consequences of one’s own failure to
communicate with another person.

What is the poem about:

"A Poison Tree" examines the effects of unresolved anger.

In the poem, the narrator or persona first gets angry at a friend. He talks to his
friend and that dialogue resolves his problem so that he can forgive his friend.

Then he grows angry at an enemy. Rather than communicate with his enemy and
hash the problem out, he holds the anger inside.

As the poem puts it, he "waters" the anger with his tears, and then "suns" it with
the false smiles he offers his enemy.

Eventually, this anger grows and grows until it becomes a tree that bears a shiny,
poisonous apple. The enemy eats the apple and dies.
Our personal connection to poem:
The poet means for us to see ourselves in the persona who nurtured his anger at his
enemy by watering it with his "tears" and sunning it with his deceitful "smiles." If
we stuff down our anger, pretend we're happy, and don't resolve our conflicts, our
anger will grow and grow until it becomes like a poisonous plant that will hurt
other people. The poet shows us a different and healthier path in the first stanza,
where the persona confronts the friend who makes him angry and works out the
problem. The poem suggests that we have a choice about how we behave and that
resolving our issues with others is far better than letting them fester.

What is the moral of In this Blake poem, an individual who hides and nurses his
the poem "A poison anger is contrasted with a person who goes immediately
tree?" and tells his "friend" why he is angry.
The person who confesses his anger is able to get over it
and move on.
The person who buries it from his "enemy" pretends
everything is all right. Meanwhile, beneath the surface, the
anger festers.
The man waters his anger with his tears and suns it with
false smiles. By doing this he cultivates his anger so that it
grows bigger and bigger.
Finally, the anger grows into a tree that bears poisonous
fruit.
The moral of the poem is that we should not nurse our
anger towards another person but confront the person who
hurt us and work out our issues directly. Otherwise, we
become something poisonous that destroys other people.
In the poem "A In "The Poison Tree," the point of the poem is that the anger
Poison Tree" why we hold onto grows into something ugly and poisonous that
did the persona's hurts other people.
wrath end when he
told his friend Blake contrasts this to anger we get over.
about it? One good way to overcome anger is to talk about it with the
person who angered you. If you can trust another person
enough to confide in him and her, you can clear up
misunderstandings and give the other person the opportunity
to tell his side of the story and explain what happened. It
also offers the other person the chance to apologize, because
often people don't even know they have offended. With this
kind of communication, forgiveness and reconciliation can
occur. Then you can move on with your life.

In contrast, as the poem shows, if you dwell on your wrath

without trying to resolve it, it becomes bigger and bigger
and more and more poisonous--Blake imagines it as a
poisonous apple--and becomes especially poisonous if you
pretend to the person who offended you that nothing is
wrong.

How did the In "The Poison Tree," the persona deals with his anger while
persona of "A his enemy is still alive by nurturing it.
Poison Tree" deal He does this in two ways. First, as Blake puts it, he "water'd
with his anger it in fears / night and morning with my tears." This means
while his enemy that when the persona wakes up in the morning and when he
was alive? Give goes to bed at night he remembers over and over how he has
two things he did. been hurt by his enemy. He dwells on his "fears": how his
enemy could hurt him again, and he thinks about his enemy
with "tears" over the original injury.

The persona also pretends that nothing is wrong. Blake

states it this way: "I sunn'd it [his anger] with smiles / And
with soft deceitful wiles." Rather than confront his enemy or
talk it through, the persona stuffs his anger down and
pretends everything is fine. He smiles at his enemy. He is
kind on the surface to his enemy. Meanwhile, the unresolved
anger grows and grows.
We don't know how the enemy injured the persona, but the
poem leads us to believe that whatever it was, the persona
blows it (or grows it) all out of proportion both by dwelling
on it silently and by pretending publicly that he is happy.