A Poison Tree Poet: William Blake By Claire Wright Date November 6,2015

The Promise By Jane Hirshfield Stay, I said To the cut flowers. They bowed Their heads lower. Stay, I said to the spider, Who fled. Stay, leaf. It reddened, Embarrassed for me and itself. Stay, I said to my body. It sat as a dog does, Obedient for a moment, Soon starting to tremble. Stay, to the earth Of riverine valley meadows, Of fossiled escarpments, Of limestone and sandstone. It looked back With a changing expression, in silence. Stay, I said to my loves. Each answered, Always. 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. A Poison Tree By William Blake

Biographical Information on William Blake: From a young age and throughout Blake’s life he claimed to have seen visions. These visions include to have seen God, and a tree filled with angels. In many of Blake’s poems and artistic work he used trees as metaphors in life. Religious concepts and imagery are often found in Blake’s works. Growing up, the most influential writings in Blake’s life was the Bible. He uses many biblical references throughout his poems.

Structure Of Poem: Blake wrote the poem to have 4 stanzas There is end rhyme in this poem and in pairs of every two lines. There are 16 lines in the poem. There is some repetition and imagery in the poem also.

 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.  Speaker  The speaker is talking about two scenarios. In the first scenario the speaker is angry with his friend. Therefore, he talks to his friend about his anger and his anger goes away. In the second scenario the speaker is angry again, but he is mad at his enemy. This time he does not talk to his enemy about his anger so his anger heightens over time.  In the poem Blake uses I, my, and mine so we’re assuming Blake is the actual speaker of the poem.

Imagery “And I waterd it in fears, Night & morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles.” The speaker is comparing his growing anger to growing a tree. While a tree needs sunlight and water to grow, the speaker’s anger uses fears, tears, and deceitful smiles to grow.

Imagery  “And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright.”  “it” refers to the speaker’s anger and the apple is a product of hate and a metaphoric representation of sin as in the biblical story of Adam and Eve.

Imagery  “And into my garden stole, When the night had veild the pole;”  The enemy came into the speaker’s garden in the dark of night to steal the apple. The garden, which could be viewed as a place of life and prosperity, is simply the stage for the sinful act, as it was in the Bible.

Imagery  “In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree.”  These 2 lines lead us to believe that the enemy/foe has died after eating the poisonous apple.

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. AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHAABBCCDDEEFFGGHH End rhyme: Blake uses end rhyme to keep rhythm throughout the poem. Repetition: Blake uses repetition of I, it, And, my foe, and my wrath (words are italicized). This poem is a ballad and an extended metaphor of how the speaker’s anger grows like a tree would and what happens as his anger grows throughout the poem.

Literal and Figurative Meaning Literal  The speaker is angry at his rival, he does not communicate his anger, therefore it silently increases. This rage can ultimately lead to worse things happening. Its not good to hold your feelings in and it is best to resolve issues with friends and foes. Figurative  The speaker’s anger is being compared to a growing tree, which could also represent life. He uses fears and tears to feed his anger much like a plant needs water and sunlight. The speaker’s anger blossoms into an apple which represents hatred and sin. The enemy was tempted into the garden which represents life. The enemy steals and eats the apple committing the sinful act where he dies.

Author’s Purpose  Blake’s purpose was to show how your emotions can get the better of you if you let them. The poem is not celebrating wrath rather it is warning the reader of the dangers of repression and rejoicing in the sorrow of our enemies. Theme  Don’t keep your anger bottled up inside, use communication to let others know how your feeling  Anything beautiful in life can be contorted to something disgusting if shown ugly emotions

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