Form 5 English Literature

1. A Poison Tree
by William Blake

2. Stanza 1
I was angry with my friend: (line 1)
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. (line 2)
I was angry with my foe: (line 3)
I told it not, my wrath did grow. (line 4)
I had a misunderstanding with my friend and was angry. I told my friend about
my wrath. I got over my anger and forgot it. But when I got angry with my foe,
I didn't tell him about it. I bottled up my wrath and it intensified. It grew and
grew like a plant.

3. Stanza 2
And I watered it in fears, (line 1)
Night and morning with my tears; (line 2)
And I sunned it with smiles, (line 3)
And with soft deceitful wiles. (line 4)
My anger grew like a tree. I nourished my anger-tree with anger, suspicion and
hatred. I was suspicious of my foe and I was angry with him. But I tricked him
to bring him closer to me. Outwardly, I smiled and I was friendly to gain his
trust.

4. Stanza 3
And it grew both day and night, (line 1)
Till it bore an apple bright;(line 2)
And my foe beheld it shine, (line 3)
And he knew that it was mine, (line 4)
My "tree" was poisonous because it was full of anger, hatred and suspicion.
Later, it bore a shiny poison apple. My foe saw it and knew it was mine.

5. Stanza 4
And into my garden stole (line 1)
When the night had veiled the pole: (line 2)
In the morning glad I see (line 3)
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.(line 4)
One night when there were no stars, my foe came into my garden and stole my
poison apple. He fell into my trap. He ate the apple and died. In the morning, I
was happy to see him lying dead under my poison tree.

6. Summary of Poem
In this poem, the persona is angry after a misunderstanding with his friend and his foe. He
talks about the misunderstanding with his friend and gets over his anger. But he doesn't talk
about his anger to his foe, so his anger increases and grows into an anger-plant.The persona
treats his growing anger like a growing plant. He feeds the seed of his "plant" with anger and
hatred. He waters it with doubt, suspicion and hatred and he nourishes it with fake sunshine.
He gives his anger-plant "smiles" and "deceitful wiles". Outwardly, the persona smiles and is
friendly to his foe so that he will trust him and be close to him. He is scheming to trick and
trap his foe. His increasing anger and hatred grows into a poison tree. The poison is actually
the persona's wrath and hatred for his foe.Then the persona becomes spiteful, revengeful
and murderous as his anger and hatred intensify. He plots to kill his foe and his devious plan
works when his poison tree bears a deadly poison apple. The persona's foe sees it and is
tempted to eat it. One dark night, he sneaks into the persona's garden and steals his poison
apple. Then he eats it and dies. The next morning, the persona is happy to see him lying dead
under his poison tree.

7. Setting
Place - in his garden , under the poison tree
Time - in the darkness of the night , the next morning

8. Anger, bitterness and maliciousness- The persona is
extremely angry with his foe. As his anger intensifies, he
becomes scheming and murderous. In Stanza 4, the tone
is also accusing. The persona accuses his foe of stealing
his apple in his garden at night.
Tone

9. Themes and Moral Values
The importance of communicating when there is a
misunderstanding
- When there is a misunderstanding, we should talk about it to
resolve our differences.
Harbouring ill feelings against someone
- We shouldn't harbour ill feelings against anyone.
Forgiving and forgetting
- When there is a misunderstanding, we must forgive and forget.
Bottling up ill feelings
- Bottling up ill feelings is bad for us and those around us.

10. wrath ~ extreme anger
foe ~ enemy
sunned ~ provided sunshine
deceitful ~ dishonest behaviour to make people believe things which are not true
wiles ~ clever tricks a person uses to get what he wants
bore ~ produced fruit
beheld ~ looked at or saw
veiled ~ covered with something to hide something partly or completely
pole ~ the Pole star which is the star that is above the North Pole in the sky
Word vs Meaning