A Poison Tree

Title of Blake’s Poem, A Poison Tree

The original title of the poem was Christian Forbearance. That title is indicative of
the character of the poem as a fable, directed against self-restraint. The poem from
that angle seems to suggest that it is dangerous to thwart natural impulses. Anger,
unnaturally restrained, only to be nurtured in secrecy, produces the apple of hate,
which is poisonous and destructive. The poem brings out how the bitter venom of
enmity is fostered and eventually causes disaster. The title is justified from this
very viewpoint.

A Poison Tree Summary

Stanza 1 :

I (the poet) was angry with my friend. As I told him my wrath, it ended. I was
angry with my foe, but I did not tell that, and my wrath grew.

The poet’s wrath : The poet was angry with his friend. But he frankly expressed his
wrath, and was reconciled to him. But he did not, however, give vent to his
resentment to his foe, and allowed his wrath to grow.

Stanza 2 :

In fears, I watered it (my wrath), night and morning, with my tears. I sunned it with
smiles and soft deceitful wiles.

Stanza 3 :

It grew both day and night till it bore a bright apple. My foe beheld it to shine and
knew that that was mine.

The poet’s secret nourishment of his wrath : The poet cherished his wrath against
his foe constantly out of fear. He pretended and tempted him. The foe was, drawn
to the poisonous element, nurtured by him, and wanted to possess that out of
jealousy.

Stanza 4 :
When the night had veiled the Pole, he stole into my garden. In the morning, I was
glad to see my foe outstretched beneath the tree.

The dreadful effect of the poet’s wrath : The foe’s secret effort to possess that
poisonous element resulted in disaster and brought about his death. Of course, the
poet was glad to find his foe dead.

A Poison Tree, a simple poem, contains a serious thought. The poem reflects on
the bitter effects of the suppressed feeling of enmity. The secretly nurtured
grievance and the hypocritical show of friendship lead to dangerous consequences.
This theme is well illustrated through the poet’s dealing with his foe. He nurses his
grudge against his foe, poses friendship, tempts him and succeeds in poisoning and
destroying him. What is emphasized here is that suppression merely nurtures the
poison tree.

A Poison Tree Analysis

William Blake’s A Poison Tree is a sort of fable in verse. It contains a meaningful

moral underneath its simple story. As a poem, included in Blake’s Songs of
Experience, it bears out his serious vision of human sin and suffering. At the same
time, it has his simple, sensuous and sonorous technique.

A Poison Tree Themes

The theme of the poem is about the poisonous effect of envy and enmity. This is
brought out through the simple account of the speaker’s suppressed wrath, his
hypocritical friendship with his foe and the latter’s ultimate death in his attempt to
steal the poisonous apple, grown in his garden.

This is the simple fable of a poison tree which the poem presents But Blake’s fable
has a two-fold inner significance. First, it indicates the wrong impact of the
suppression of the natural impulse (even of wrath) Wrath, thus concealed, grows
under the fostering care of fear and suspicion and vitiates the whole mind. Second,
spite and enmity debase human nature, sour it at the root and set at naught all
human feelings and considerations.

Questions and Answers

Q No 1 :-What is the theme of the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Answer:- The main themes in "A Poison Tree" are anger, suppression vs.
expression, and God's wrath.

Anger: The poem does not argue that anger in and of itself is dangerous. Rather, it
is the anger we refuse to relinquish that becomes toxic to ourselves and others.

Suppression vs. expression: The suppression of the speaker's feelings leads to his
corruption. Though he also feels anger toward a friend, he is able to quickly
resolve these feelings through confrontation.

God's wrath: The speaker may represent God, with the poison tree representing
the biblical tree of knowledge. This reading suggests that God is vengeful and
cruel.

Q No 2: What is the moral of the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Answer:- Theme of Moral Values in A Poison Tree

William Blake’s poem, A Poison Tree treats the dangerous effect of hidden
resentment and the delight of vengeance. The speaker is found to foster here his
feeling of bitterness and hatred against his foe. He lacks frankness to speak out his
grievance and to find out a settlement of the dispute with his foe. On the other
hand, he nurtures his wrath with fear and suspicion, and has recourse to hypocrisy
deliberately to wreck vengeance upon his enemy. His mind, soured with malice
and suspicion, broods over the way to take revenge. He succeeds in his pretence
and allures his enemy to show his spite first and do him wrong secretly. He feels
exultant to find him vanquished under his close scheme.

This theme of A Poison Tree is quite serious and based on the evil of envy and
enmity. The main argument here is the sinister consequence of suppressed wrath
and secretly nurtured hate. Wrath is a natural impulse in man and must better be
given vent to. When this is kept suppressed or concealed, it takes a dangerous
dimension and poisons the whole mind in no time. Moreover, fear and suspicion
have an easy growth in such a state. They serve to aggravate the situation and
debase a mind further. All this produces, as it were, a poison tree, with bright but
deadly apples.
The matter, however, does not end here. The poisonous apple must lure the foe to
taste it. Hypocrisy makes it tempting. The speaker puts on a fair face to hide his
false heart. He pretends to have friendship with his foe with a deliberate purpose to
deceive and destroy him. His plan well works out. His foe is tempted by the bright
apple, steals it out of malice and thereby meets his end. Hypocrisy is deceptive and
adds to the venom of hate and succeeds in completing the carefully nurtured wrath

The speaker triumphs over his fallen foe. But this is the triumph of spite and
meanness and the death-knell of Christian piety and humanity. This is no matter of
victory or glory but of sorrow and shame, and brings out the seamy side of human
life and nature.

Q No 3: What does the apple symbolize in the poem "The Poison Tree"?

Q No 4: What is a figure of speech in the poem "A Poison Tree" by William

Blake?

Q No 5: In the context of Blake's "A Poison Tree," is revenge ever justified? If

so, when? Is the speaker's act of revenge in this poem justified?

Q No 6: What is the extended metaphor of the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 7: For "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, what is the poem's rhyme
scheme and meter? How does the meter contribute to the meaning of the
poem?

Q No 8: In "A Poison Tree," what is the literal meaning of "And into my

garden stole"? How did the persona's enemy enter his garden?

Q No 9: Why do you think the speaker did not tell his foe about his wrath in
"A Poison Tree"?

Q No 10: What is the speaker's attitude in "A Poison Tree" by William

Blake?

Q No 11: What is the message of the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 12: What is the tone of the poem "The Poison Tree" by William Blake?
Q No 13: Discuss the diction of the poem, "A Poison Tree." Point out words
that are particularly well chosen and explain why.

Q No 14: What is the lesson of "A Poison Tree" by William Blake?

Q No 15: In the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, how does the
speaker feel about his anger and does he regret it in the end? How do you
know?

Q No 16: In "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, what are the prevailing meter
and substitition meter, and how are they used in the poem?

Q No 17: Identify a figure of speech used in the poem "A Poison Tree."

Q No 18: In "A Poison Tree," why do you think Blake chose an apple rather
than a pomegranate, an orange, or a banana, for example?

Q No 19: In the poem "A Poison Tree" why did the persona's wrath end when
he told his friend about it?

Q No 20: What lesson can we learn from the outcome of the poem "A Poison
Tree"?

Q No 21: What are the moral lessons in "A Poison Tree" by William Blake?

Q No 22: Summarize the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake.

Q No 23: What does the speaker mean when he says he "sunned it with
smiles” in the poem “A Poison Tree?”

Q No 24: What is the meaning of the last two lines of the poem "A Poison
Tree" by William Blake?

Q No 25: What two poems would be well suited to compare with "A Poison
Tree"?

Q No 26: What Two Ways Of Handling Anger Are Mentioned In The Poem

Q No 27: Explain the following quote from Blake's "A Poison Tree." "In the
morning glad I see My foe outstretched beneath the tree."
Q No 28: What is the difference between anger and wrath in "A Poison
Tree"?

Q No 29: With whom is the persona angry in "A Poison Tree" by William
Blake?

Q No 30: Blake originally called this poem "Christian Forbearance." How

might that title apply to the text?

Q No 31: Who are the victims in the poem?

Q No 32: What is the meaning of night and morning in "A Poison Tree?"

Q No 33: What two things does Blake compare in "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 34: How are William Blake and Samuel Taylor Coleridge different from
each other? Using examples from their works ("A Poison Tree" and "Rime of
the Ancient Mariner").

Q No 35: How does the theme of "A Poison Tree" convey the poem's
message?

Q No 36: In "A Poison Tree," how did the persona feed his anger?

Q No 37: What is the effect of rhyme, rhythm, and metaphor in "A Poison
Tree"?

Q No 38: What is the moral proposition of Blake's poem “A Poison Tree"?

Q No 39: How did the speaker nurture anger, and what was the end result?

Q No 40: In the first stanza, the speaker makes a contrast between two
occasions when he got angry with someone. What is that contrast?

Q No 41: In the poem, how does the speaker's wrath affect his friend and his
enemy individually?

Q No42: We are currently studying Romeo and Juliet at school and are doing
an assignment on poetry in conjunction with the play. What are the
relationships between Romeo and Juliet and "A Poison Tree"?
Q No 43: What words does the poet repeat and what does it emphasize the
differences between?

Q No 44: How is Blake's "A Poison Tree" a parable?

Q No 45: What did the speaker do to ensure that the tree grew healthy?

Q No 46: What personal connection can you make to the poem "A Poison
Tree" and its subject?

Q No 47: How did talking to his friend about his anger help the speaker in "A
Poison Tree" by William Blake?

Q No 48: What is the theme of the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 49: What are key images and the theme used in William Blake's 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
fearsNight and morning with my tears,And I sunned it with smilesAnd 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 stoleWhen the night had veiled the pole;In the morning, glad, I seeMy
foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Q No 50: What is the relationship between the words “night” and “morning”
in the second stanza, and “day and night” in the third stanza of “The Poison
Tree”? Explain what these word pairs suggest about the speaker and how
they add to the poem’s meaning.

Answers

Comment on the development of the apple and how it relates to the poem's
meaning in "A Poison Tree."

Q No 51: Based on the poem, what does the speaker value most, and what
guides his choices? What can you infer about the quality of the speaker's life
based on his values? Finally, how do the poet's use of biblical allusions
contribute to your understanding of the speaker?
Q No 52: What is the metaphor in "A Poison Tree" describing the speaker's
wrath?

Q No 53: Write two or three sentences describing how allusion adds to the
meaning of the third and fourth stanzas of “A Poison Tree.” How is this
allusion tied to the theme or message of the poem?

Q No 54: In stanza 2, what does the persona use to represent the growth of his
anger?

Q No 55: Whose wiles are referenced in the poem “A Poison Tree”?

Q No 56: In William Blake's poem ''The Poison Tree'', how does the author's
use of diction convey the speaker's tone?

Q No57: In William Blake's "A Poison Tree," what does the persona compare
himself to?

Q No 58: What causes the speaker’s anger to grow in stanza 2?

Q No 59: What is the figurative meaning in the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 60: In the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, what does the tree
represent?

Q No 61: What does the poem "A Poison Tree" talk about?

Q No 62: What is a figure of speech used in the first stanza of "A Poison
Tree"?

Q No 63: How is the time period in which William Blake wrote reflected in the
poem "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 64: What do you think 'it' refers to in stanza 3?

Q No 65: The plant grew both from the speaker's inner feelings and from his
outward behavior. What caused the inner feelings and outward behavior?

Q No 66: Explain how Blake presents his thoughts and feelings in the poem
"A Poison Tree."

Q No 67: So the foe is poisoned and dies in "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 68: What is the poem "A Poison Tree" mainly about?

Q No 69: Link a conflict that happened to you with the poem "A Poison
Tree."

Q No 70: What words in stanza two show that the speaker is now talking of
his anger as if it were a seed or a small plant? What served as water and
sunlight for it?

Q No 71: Is there a contemporary text (such as a song or a modern poem) that

can relate to the themes in "A Poison Tree"? Something that uses the tree as a
symbol?

Q No 72: In stanza 1, what happens to an anger that is not settled?

Q No 73: Does "A Poison Tree" by William Blake suggest that because people
enjoy being angry they tend to want to nourish their hatred rather than
overcome it? "A Poison Tree" by William Blake

Q No 74: "A Poison Tree" describes a series of events - it tells a story. Explain
your understanding of the story’s significance.

Q No 75: What is the tone of the poem, "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 76: How does the poet's anger at his friend disappear in "A Poison
Tree"?

Q No 77: What does it mean by Blake about the third quatrain in the poem
"A Poison Tree" ? "And it grew both day and night, till it bore and apple
bright, and my foe beheld it shine, and he know that it was mine."

Q No 78: Can you provide a summary of the poem "A Poison Tree"?

Q No 79: What does the apple in "A Poison Tree" by William Blake
represent? Does it have anything to do with the persona's revenge on his foe?

Q No 80: Do you think the persona has done the right thing to get rid of his
foe?
Q No 81: What theme is most strongly present in “A Poison Tree”? Why is
this poem a “song of experience”?

Q No 82: In "The Lamb" and "The Tiger," is Blake concerned with the
creator?

Q No 83: Do you agree with the speaker's feeling in "A Poison Tree"?
Q No 84: What difference would it make if it were a peach in an orchard?
What does the apple is the garden represent?

Q No 85: How does William Blake use vivid images in "A Poison Tree" to
make his message clear?

Q No 86: In stanza 5, what does the word "it" refer to?

Q No 87: How did the persona of "A Poison Tree" deal with his anger while
his enemy was alive? Give two things he did.

Q No 88: Please explain the verse and form of "A Poison Tree" by William
Blake.

Q No 89: In the first stanza of "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, what
happens between the narrator and his friends? What does the narrator do to
make his anger grow? What is the main theme of the poem?

Q No 90: In regards to William Blake's "A Poison Tree," what's its poetic
structure and appeal?

Q No 91: Why is 'and' repeated three times in stanza 2 of "A Poison Tree?"
Q No 92: Describe the form or pattern of the poem "A Poison Tree."
Q No 93: What feeling of the persona is likened to an apple tree in the first
stanza?

Q No 94: How are the tree and the speaker’s “wrath” related in “A Poison
Tree”? State how the two things can be compared, including the type of
figurative language the poet is using. Explain how this comparison contributes
to the poem’s meaning.

Q No 95: The Sick Rose What do you think the "sick rose" refers to? Is it
the Church?

Q No 96: What happened when the narrator of "A Poison Tree" did not
express his anger?

Q No 97: Can you list the moral values ("we must," "we should") in the
poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake?

Q No 98: Please describe the poem "A Poison Tree," by William Blake.
Focus on the wrath ending/continuing, the title, and on the devices used.

Q No 100: In stanza 1 of "A Poison Tree," what may have caused the
speaker to be angry with their friend?

Q No 101:- What is "The Poison Tree" about? Does his friend die?

Q No 102: In the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake, why did the
speaker's wrath end when he told his friend about it?

Q No 103: How is " The Poison Tree" a parable ?

Q No 104: In the third stanza of a poison tree what happens when the
speaker told his friend that he was angry? What happens when the speaker
does not tell his foe about his anger? Support your answer with evidence
from the text.

Q No 105: In "A Poison Tree," to whom did the persona show his true
anger, and why do you think this happened?

Q No 106: How does the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake support
or negate the proposition that anger tends to make people irrational? "A
Poison Tree" by William Blake.
Q No 107: How does the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake support
or negate that anger is an emotion that wells up inside until you feel you must
spew it out?

Q No 108: What is "A Poison Tree" about? What is the poet trying to
convey?

Death?

Explain and critically comment on the following lines from When I Have Fears by
KeatsOf the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness
do sink.

Discuss the ending of the poem "When I Have Fears" by John Keats. Does
nothingness evoke nihilism, depression, or a kind of freedom?

Give the meanings of the word annotations of the following expression from the
text of "When I Have Fears" by Keats. "pen has gleaned,my teeming brain,"
"Before high-piled books, in charactry," "Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd
grain;" "fair creature of an hour," "Never have relish in the fairy power"

What exactly is Keats afraid of in the poem "When I Have Fears"?

Could you please summarize the poem, "When I Have Fears" by John Keats?

What is the summary of "When I Have Fears" by Keats? I am not very skilled at
reading older poetry and I have to write an essay over this poem, but I am just not
grasping what it's about.

How might one summarize, line by line, John Keats's poem "When I Have Fears
that I May Cease to Be"?

Can any literature experts give me a detailed critique on John Keats' "When I Have
Fears"?

Consider When I have Fears by Keats as a typical Shakespearean Sonnet. as a

typical Shakespearean Sonnet.

Give an example of the dark imagery known as Keatsian in John Keats' poem
"When I Have Fears."
In this work by Keats, what are strong images and language used?