Poetry Analysis A Poison Tree
A Poison Tree
By William Blake
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 veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.
The poem “A Poison Tree,” puts forth the poet’s views on how he felt about handling conflicts. The poet, William Blake warns about the ill effects of holding malice inside oneself. Interestingly, the poem emerges as a metaphor for what happens when one allows anger to grow within, instead of using the power of communication to resolve conflicts.
A Poison Tree” is organized into four quatrains(four line stanzas). The rhyme scheme is AABB, that creates a very simple and easy to follow flow for the poem.
The poem is narrated from the point of view of a mysterious narrator, who happens to be acquainted with/aware of, all the personal details of the speaker; allowing a scope for readers to place themselves into the poem.
The first quatrain explains that the narrator at one time became angry with a friend. However, this conflict was resolved because the narrator told the friend and the “wrath did end.” The second half of the quatrain brings up another conflict, but this anger is with a foe. This time the narrator “told it not” and the “wrath did grow.”
The second quatrain is very powerful and starts with the line, “and I watered it in fear.” Blake strives to inform the readers that fear and anger go together. One can assume that the fear of the speaker is unfounded as there has been no mention of threat from the foe. Fear can force people to think and do things that are highly eccentric or out of character. This emotion can take one to a dark place, as it
By William Blake
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 veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.
The poem “A Poison Tree,” puts forth the poet’s views on how he felt about handling conflicts. The poet, William Blake warns about the ill effects of holding malice inside oneself. Interestingly, the poem emerges as a metaphor for what happens when one allows anger to grow within, instead of using the power of communication to resolve conflicts.
A Poison Tree” is organized into four quatrains(four line stanzas). The rhyme scheme is AABB, that creates a very simple and easy to follow flow for the poem.
The poem is narrated from the point of view of a mysterious narrator, who happens to be acquainted with/aware of, all the personal details of the speaker; allowing a scope for readers to place themselves into the poem.
The first quatrain explains that the narrator at one time became angry with a friend. However, this conflict was resolved because the narrator told the friend and the “wrath did end.” The second half of the quatrain brings up another conflict, but this anger is with a foe. This time the narrator “told it not” and the “wrath did grow.”
The second quatrain is very powerful and starts with the line, “and I watered it in fear.” Blake strives to inform the readers that fear and anger go together. One can assume that the fear of the speaker is unfounded as there has been no mention of threat from the foe. Fear can force people to think and do things that are highly eccentric or out of character. This emotion can take one to a dark place, as it