The poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake is about the suppression of anger and how it leads to increased anger over time. It is told from the first person perspective of someone who was angry with both a friend and a foe. When angry with the friend, telling them resolved the anger. But anger toward a foe grew as it was kept secret, nourished with tears and deceitful smiles, until it manifested as a poisonous apple that killed the foe.

1. A Poison Tree

2. 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 veil’d the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.

3. Introduction to the
poem “A Poison Tree”
William Blake was highly original
and important poet in English
Literature. A Poison Tree is one of
his famous Poem. This poem has
ominous tone.

4. Themes of the poem “A
Poison Tree”
The theme of William Blake’s
poem, A Poison Tree, is not anger
itself but how the suppression of
anger leads to the growth of
anger.

5. How the title and theme is
foregrounded:
The title of the poem “A Poison Tree is
forgrounded through the vocabulary
items.

6. Stylistics
Analysis

7. Graphological Level
I. Foregrounding:
Title of the poem is written in bold
letters and name of the poet in italic.
II. Paragraphing:
This poem is consisting on 04 quatrains
(stanzas). There is
double spacing among all paragraphs.

8. III. Punctuation:
a. Full stops- 7 times
b. Commas- 5 times
c. Colons- 2times
d. Semi colons- 3 times
IV. Contracted forms:
The poet employed the above
contracted forms to create an illusion
of speech.

9. Phonological Level
I. Alliteration
1. I was angry with my friend;
3.I was angry with my foe:
6.Night and morning with my tears:
7.And I sunned it with smiles,
8.And with soft deceitful wiles.
10.Till it bore an apple bright.
II. Consonance
I was angry with my friend;

10. 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.

11. And into my garden stole,
When the night hadveil’d the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.
III. Assonance
2. I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
4. I told it not, my wrath did grow.
5. And I watered it in fears,
6. Night and morning with my tears:

12. 7. And I sunned it with smiles,
8. And with soft deceitful wiles.
10. Till it bore an apple bright.
11. And my foe beheld it shine,
12. And he knew that it was mine

13. Morphological level
No affixation and coinage have found
in the poem.

14. Lexical Level
No such elements of lexical analysis
have found in the poem which includes
anastrophe, parenthesis, ellipsis,
asyndeton, anaphora and epizeuxis etc.

15. Rhyme scheme &
meter

16. I was angry with my friend; A
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. A
I was angry with my foe: B
I told it not, my wrath did grow. B
And I watered it in fears, A
Night and morning with my tears: A
And I sunned it with smiles, B
And with soft deceitful wiles. B
And it grew both day and night. A
Till it bore an apple bright. A
And my foe beheld it shine, B
And he knew that it was mine. B
And into my garden stole, A
When the night had veil’d the pole; A
In the morning glad I see; B
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree. B

17. Structure
A Poison Tree by William Blake has four
different stanzas. It starts as a first-
person poem, where the poet is
expressing his anger and hatred toward
his enemy. The poem then takes a turn
and ‘I’ is replaced with the word ‘It’, a
pronoun to depict the feelings of the
enemy.

18. Detailed Analysis

19. Stanza One
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.

20. Stanza Two
And I watered it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

21. Stanza Three
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.

22. Stanza Four
And into my garden stole.
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

23. Thank you!!!