CHEGUE THIBA

FORM 5 ENGLISH / THE POISONG TREE

A Poison Tree
BY  WI LL IA M BL AKE

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 waterd it in fears,

Night & 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 veild the pole; 
In the morning glad I see; 
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
 CHEGUE THIBA
FORM 5 ENGLISH / THE POISONG TREE

Line by line Meaning

Stanza 1
- 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.

Stanza 2
- 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.

Stanza 3
- 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.

Stanza 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.

Summary of the 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.

Setting
 Place - in his garden , under the poison tree
 Time - in the darkness of the night , the next morning
 CHEGUE THIBA
FORM 5 ENGLISH / THE POISONG TREE

Tone

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.

Themes and Moral Values

1. The importance of communicating when there is a misunderstanding
- When there is a misunderstanding, we should talk about it to resolve our differences.

2. Harbouring ill feelings against someone

- We shouldn't harbour ill feelings against anyone.

3. Forgiving and forgetting

- When there is a misunderstanding, we must forgive and forget.

4. Bottling up ill feelings

- Bottling up ill feelings is bad for us and those around us.

Word vs Meaning

 wrath ~ extreme anger

 foe ~ enemy
 watered ~ poured water on plants
 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

Discussion
 CHEGUE THIBA
FORM 5 ENGLISH / THE POISONG TREE

The persona could be intentionally helping his anger to grow by refusing communication with
his enemy or perhaps he is unconsciously helping his anger to grow as his tears are actually
tears of sorrow. This poem was written by William Blake and published in 1794 as part of his
“Songs of Experience” collection. The poem describes repressed feelings of anger towards
someone where the emotions lead him to murder. Perhaps the poet is exploring the darker
side of human beings. When the enemy eats the fruit, he dies and the poet seems to be
happy. The apple is the symbolic representation of his unreleased anger. The anger that
blossoms into a poisoned fruit. We should ponder on whether this anger has attracted the
enemy and in turn has lured him into the garden. Perhaps the enemy has unresolved issues
with the owner of the garden and that is the reason for him to try and trespass the garden
with the intention of settling the issues – in this case- by stealing the apple that has
eventually poisoned him. Looking at another angle; considering the fact that William Blake
was a religious man, with biblical reference- Adam and Eve was told not to eat the apple.
Eating from the tree was the first sin! Perhaps, that’s the reason for Blake to use an apple
tree as his central metaphor.