A Poison Tree - 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 watered 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 outstretched beneath the tree.

MEANING OF DIFFICULT WORDS1. Wrath - strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire.2. Deceit – distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating3. Wiles – Trick, trap4. Veiled – conceal, lacking clarity or distinctness

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”

7. Allusion-"Garden.. apple...tree" alludes to Adam & Eve, the Garden of Eden.

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS

Stanza 1: William Blake speaks of someone, his friend and his foe, whom has he is angry with. When he says ‘I told my wrath, my wrath did end’ after he said he was angry with his friend, he is saying he was able to get over being angry with his friend and forgot about it. Although, it is quite the opposite when he mentions’ I told it not, and my wrath did grow’. Blake is saying that with his enemy, he allowed himself to get angry, and therefore, his wrath did grow.

Stanza 2: In this stanza, Blake begins to make his anger grow and he takes pleasure in it, comparing his anger with something, in this case, a tree or plant. The speaker says he ‘sunned it with smiles’ and ‘and with soft, deceitful wiles’. This means he is creating an illusion with his enemy saying he is pretending to be friendly to seduce and bring him closer.

Stanza 3: ‘And it grew both day and night’ and ‘til it bore an apple bright’ are meaning that his illusion with his enemy is growing and growing until it became a strong and tempting thing. His illusion has a metaphor and it is an apple. After, his foe believes it shines, which means he thinks it’s true and means something, and takes Blake illusion seriously. ‘And he knew it was mine’ suggests that he really thinks Blake is his friend.

Stanza 4: Being the last stanza, Blake needed to come up with a conclusion. He has used the two lines ‘in the morning glad I see’ and ‘my foe outstretched beneath the tree’ to say that his foe finally fell to his tempting illusion and metaphorically, consumed his poison apple and died. So, obviously, his malicious intentions were hidden behind illusion and he prevailed over his enemy.