A Poison Tree Poetic Form

I
I
I
I

was angry with my friend;

told my wrath, my wrath did end.
was angry with my foe:
told it not, my wrath did grow.

The poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his
foe in this stanza, but he has also depicted the difference between two
types of anger. He states that when you are angry with a friend, you
convince your heart to forgive him. Even though you are hurt and you
know that he did injustice to you, you try your best to forget the past and
end the feeling of vengeance in your heart. On the other hand, when you
are angry with an enemy, it takes ages for you to calm your anger. Yet, the
anger and the feeling of vengeance do not diminish, even with time. In
fact, the vengeance simply grows.

And I watered it in fears,

Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
The poet is making a confession in this stanza it is he, who is solely
responsible for the hatred that has grown in his heart for his enemy. It is
he, who has increased the vengeance in his heart. He has nurtured the
hatred with his fears, spending hours together, crying for the ill that has
been caused to him by his enemy. He has also nurtured the hatred with
his sarcastic smiles, imagining ill and cursing his enemy to go through the
same or worse sufferings that he has been through.

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.
The poet states that it is because of his dwelling in the same hatred, that
it has grown every day. The hatred gave birth to an apple. The fruit
signifies the evil that has taken birth in the heart of the poet. He states
that he has now come to a point from where he cant turn back and forget
about his enemy, until he does something to soothe his vengeance.
Finally, the day comes when the poets enemy has met the evil fruit of
vengeance, that he has grown with his fears, tears and sarcasm. The fruit
has now turned into a weapon. When the enemy confronts with this anger,
it is time for the weapon to serve the purpose that it has been made for.

And into my garden stole.

When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Compiled by Zakaria Abdul Kadir

Iowa 2016

A Poison Tree Poetic Form

And, so the poet states, the very next morning, the purpose is served.
When the poet wakes up and glimpses in the garden, he sees something
that relaxes his mind and calms his vengeance forever. The darkness of
the night acted like an invisible cloak for the poet. Now, it is a beautiful
morning. There he is; his enemy, dead under the tree of his hatred. He bit
the poisoned apple of his vengeance. He is murdered.

Personal Commentary
Anger is one of the most aggressive emotions that we all possess as
humans. And why only humans, this emotion is possessed by all the living
beings; even the animals are seen fighting with rage and anger on the
streets and in the woods.
In this poem, the poet has clearly stated about his anger and feeling of
vengeance in his heart. He has forgiven his friend, but he hasnt and will
never forgive his enemy for the wrongs that he has done and the hurt he
has caused to him. He remembers every little thing that he has wrongly
done to put him down and hurt him terribly.
The poet clearly says that he has himself not forgiven his enemy, even
though he could. He has made sure that he doesnt forget all the wrongs
that he has been done, because he has suffered enough due to his foe. At
first, he may have tried to forget about all that has been caused to him,
but with the growing time, the hatred in his heart developed and he kept
dwelling in the same vengeance.
Finally, the feeling of anger has shaped up and now he can do anything to
make his enemy suffer and pay for his Karmas. However, the poet does
not even wish to wait for the justice of Karmas; he wishes to put an end to
his vengeance by murdering his enemy on his own; and so he does. He
kills or murders his enemy in the end and gets back, his peace of mind.
Thus, Blakes portrayal of an angry, bitter, wrathful, and cold atmosphere,
and his use of symbolism, metaphors, diction, all show the deep level of
seriousness rampant in the poem.

How did talking to his friend about his anger help the speaker in "A Poison Tree" by
William Blake?
By talking to his friend, the speaker is able to come to terms with his anger and let go of his
rage. Perhaps the speaker is able to arrive at a mutual understanding with his friend, and this
allows his temper to subside.

Compiled by Zakaria Abdul Kadir

Iowa 2016

A Poison Tree Poetic Form

On the other hand, the speaker is unable to come to a similar understanding with his enemy.
He neglects to talk to his foe about what's bothering him. As a result, his anger grows;
privately, he waters his anger with his "fears" and "tears." He allows his emotional turmoil
full expression in private, but in the presence of his enemy he is all smiles.
Nevertheless, the speaker's anger grows so much that it bears an "apple bright." Here, the
shining apple becomes a metaphor for a fully-matured malignancy that is cloaked in an
attractive exterior. Unknown to the speaker's enemy, the "apple" is extremely poisonous; it
kills his foe after he unwittingly eats it one night. In the end, the speaker can't hide his glee at
finding his enemy "outstretch'd beneath the tree" in the morning.

Compiled by Zakaria Abdul Kadir

Iowa 2016

A Poison Tree Poetic Form

The speaker of the poem is likely angry with two different people. One is a friend. The
other is a foe. No additional information is given about these two people.
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
It is possible that both people are the same, though. I had a student suggest that the friend
and foe are the same person. Her reason was that sometimes a person is so angry with a
friend, that he/she thinks of them as an enemy until things blow over or forgiveness is given.
In "The Poison Tree," it's not too important if it is one character or two, but I'll stick with
thinking it is two people for the ease of the explanation.
The important thing is that the speaker talks out his feelings with his friend. His anger
subsides, and the two remain friends. Unfortunately, the speaker does not do the same for his
foe. Instead, the speaker nurtures his anger and makes it grow and grow. In other words, he
holds a grudge against this other person and feeds that grudge with additional feelings of
anger and dislike. Eventually those feelings become so powerful that the speaker finds a way
to kill his foe. The poem is a good warning to readers about the dangers of anger and what
those feelings can turn people into.

Compiled by Zakaria Abdul Kadir

Iowa 2016