ANALYSIS OF A POISON TREE

Form and Structure-This poem has been written in four quatrains. This is one of the
simplest poetic forms. Each stanza has a pair of rhyming couplets- aabb. (friend-end; foe-
grow; fears-tears; smiles-wiles; night-bright; shine-mine; stole-pole; see-tree).

Language-Overall, the vocabulary is simple. Most of the words in the first stanza are mono
syllables. All the lines in the first stanza begin with “I”. This emphasizes that there is
something personal and told from an individual point of view.

MEANING:

Stanza 1 opens with how the persona was angry with his friend. He told his friend about his
anger and the anger then disappeared. The persona then goes on to describe a scenario
when he was angry with his enemy. He did not tell his enemy that he was angry, thus, his
anger kept on growing!

In stanza 2, the persona talks more on how his anger grows. He compares his growing anger
to a growing plant where he waters the plant with his fears and his tears. However, he did
not give it real sunshine. He merely gives smiles and deceitful wiles. A wile is a cunning trick.
Here, it suggests that he may be planning some sort of a devious scheme for his enemy- and
this deceitful scheme is just like the sunshine for the growing plant.

Stanza 3 describes how the persona’s efforts eventually bore fruit. The fruit is the apple
bright. The enemy clearly recognises that the fruit belongs to the persona.

Stanza 4 reveals that the enemy had seen the apple and stole it. The enemy had stolen the
apple during the night when it was dark as the “pole” – the North Star was all covered up.
Thus, the star was not visible-to guide the enemy out of the danger. The enemy eats the
apple and most probably – he dies.

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.

POETIC/LITERARY DEVICES

1. Personification

- Waters the wrath with fear

- I told my wrath, my wrath did end

2. Metaphor

-The tree is considered as a wrath/anger

-"Till it bore an apple bright", the apple is a metaphor for the "fruit" of his grudge.

3. Alliteration

-sunned and smiles

-friend and foe

-bore and bright

4. Imagery

- Throughout the poem

5. Irony

-the foe beneath the tree of hatred

6. Repitition

-“I was angry with my friend… I was angry with my foe”

Metaphor-A growing apple tree is an extended metaphor for the growing anger and it
shows how destructive anger can be. The title “A Poison Tree” is the central metaphor. The
apple has become poisonous as it has been nurtured with anger. In other words, the tree
grew with negative emotions. When we stay angry for a long time, we may become “A
Poison Tree” (a person full of negative emotions).

Setting-The persona’s garden. The garden where the apple tree grows. The apple tree that
features the apple which lures the enemy.

Symbolism-The apple represents anger. The apple grows large till it ripens. Similarly, anger
grows till it becomes vengeance.

Themes:

Managing Anger: It is not totally wrong to be angry. However, it is rather important for us
to know how to deal with anger. If we nurture our anger, it might grow and be harmful to
us. In this poem, two ways of handling anger were shown with different outcomes. In the
first scenario, the anger disappeared but in the second the anger grew into something
aggressive and negative.

Importance of Communication: As shown in the poem, if the persona had communicated

with his enemy, his anger would have been controlled. However, his refusal to communicate
has allowed anger to become something that is very destructive. Therefore it is often better
if we can communicate with people on the issues that is bugging us. The poet indirectly is
trying to persuade his readers to talk about their anger. We can talk about it not only with
our friends but with our enemies too. If we talk, the anger might just reduce and it might
just ease our troubles. In turn, it will prevent us from causing hurt unto others.

Moral Value

The poem tells us about the disastrous consequences of one’s own failure to communicate
with another person.

Discussion

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.