A POISON TREE

-WILLIAM BLAKE-
AI wasPOISON
angry with my friend; 
TREE And it grew both day and night. 

Till it bore an apple bright. 

I told my wrath, my wrath did end. 
And my foe beheld it shine, 
I was angry with my foe: 
And he knew that it was mine. 
I told it not, my wrath did grow. 

And into my garden stole, 

And I watered it in fears, 
When the night had veiled the pole; 
Night & morning with my tears: 
In the morning glad I see; 
And I sunned it with smiles, 
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
And with soft deceitful wiles. 
TASK 2
SYNOPSIS

◦ The poem is about keeping anger and its destructive

consequences. The persona talks about being angry
with his friend. When he talks it over with his friends,
his feeling of anger melts away. However, when he is
anger with his foe, he does not attempt to sort it out
with his foe. Instead, he keeps his anger inside and lets
the anger grows inside him. He puts on a friendly front
to deceive others, especially his enemy about his
anger. This anger grows so strong and obsessive that it
literally grows into a tree and bore a poisonous fruit.
The fruit refers to the ugly results of the persona’s
anger. In other words, it controls the persona
completely and when the enemy tastes this poison, he
suffers a setback or punishment including death.
 A Poison Tree
4
Stanzas

Settings
Place : Perona’s A
poison 16
garden
Time: Tree Lines
Day and night
Persona
An
intelligent
and
scheming
person
 Literal Meaning

STANZA 1
Lines Literal Meaning

I was angry with my friend;  The persona was angry with his friend.

He dealt with his angry feelings and

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
his anger was gone.

The persona was angry with his

I was angry with my foe enemy.

He did not sort it out with his enemy

I told it not, my wrath did grow. 
and he became wrathful.
 Literal Meaning
STANZA 2
Lines Literal Meaning

And I watered it in fears,

The persona fed his angry
feelings with fears and tears
Night & morning with my daily.
tears: 

And I sunned it with smiles, 

He also put on a friendly face in
front of others to deceive them
about his anger.
And with soft deceitful wiles.
 Literal & Figurative Meaning
STANZA 3
Lines Literal Meaning

The angry feelings grew so strongly

And it grew both day and
inside the persona that it became ‘a
night. poison tree’.

The persona compared it to an apple

Till it bore an apple bright. tree that bore fruit or ‘an apple bright’.

And my foe beheld it shine, The enemy saw the fruit ,

The enemy knew the fruit belonged to

And he knew that it was mine. the persona.
 Literal & Figurative Meaning
STANZA 4
Lines Literal Meaning

And into my garden

stole,  The enemy entered the persona’s
garden quietly at night when it
When the night had veiled was dark to steal the apple.
the pole; 

In the morning glad I see;

In the morning, the persona saw
enemy lying on the ground
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
beneath the tree.
 THEMES

Deceit and
Anger Revenge Communication
lies

In the poem, the In the poem, the In the poem, the In the poem, the
persona is angry at persona is not being persona harbours persona does not
his friends and his honest towards his ill feelings against communicate with
foe. Later, the anger foe. He smiles and his foe. his foe about his
towards his foe leads acts as if nothing Bottling up ill anger. He keeps it
him to an unwanted happens, but actually feelings is bad for inside.
action. he is harbouring ill us and those
feelings against his around us.
for.
 Moral
values
We must deal
We must learn We should communicate
with our anger We must not
to forgive our with the particular person
before it turns seek revenge.
enemies. about the problem that we
into hatred. have with them.