“A Poison Tree” is from WIlliam Blake’s volume “Songs of Experience”. The poem discusses the emotions of people, how suppression of emotions can lead to bitter results for those who harbour them and also for those who are subjected to them.
The narrator is angry with his friend and he expresses how he feels. Having expressed his emotions, he is no longer angry with his friend. On the other hand, the narrator is angry with his enemy and he does not express his anger.
Gradually, the anger develops and it blossoms into a poisonous fruit. The enemy who craves for the fruit owned by the narrator steals it and consumes it. At the end, the narrator becomes extremely happy at the devastation of his enemy.
Each stanza of the poem describes how the narrator develops his bitter emotions towards his enemy in many ways until a disastrous consequence takes place. It shows how one can be so cruel to an extent where he becomes elated at one’s demise. The poet uses many effective poetic techniques to strongly convey the intended message.
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 and 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.
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.
The first stanza explains two different experiences of the narrator. The narrator was angry with his friend and he expressed his anger and put an end to it. On the contrary, he was angry with his enemy but did not express it. As a result, his anger grew.
And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.
From the second stanza onwards, the narrator explains how his anger grew and what nurtured it. His anger is referred to as a tree that grows with the nutritions like water and sunshine. His anger grows both day and night with his fears, tears, smiles and deceitful schemes he lays for his enemy. They work like water and sun for a tree.
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.
Third stanza shows that his tree of anger grows to an extent where it bears a poisonous apple. A bright apple which is attractive enough to charm his enemy. The narrator’s enemy who sees this apple shining remarks that his enemy owns it. It further shows the greed that leads the narrator’s enemy to a disastrous end.
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
Finally, the narrator’s enemy is tempted to steal what is owned by his enemy. When it is night, he sneaks into the garden of the narrator and consumes the apple. The apple here is referred to as a weapon which is in disguise.
Next day morning, the narrator finds his enemy dead under the tree. The narrator is extremely happy at this pitiable plight of his enemy. Thus, the poem ends with a ruthless state of emotions shown by the narrator.
The poem does not simply talk about anger. It talks about anger, how it develops, causes and results. Expressing anger is a means of management of anger.
Proper communication of human emotions may avoid any negative impact to the person who bears such emotions. Suppressed emotions devour one from within. Similarly, it brings devastation to those who are around.
The act of communicating your true feelings is appreciated as bravery which brings you into a win-win situation with the other party. On the contrary, the act of concealing your true feelings and acting dishonestly in secret to harm someone is considered cowardice and despised here.
The theme of anger can also be generalized to any of the negative emotions of mankind. Jealousy, negative ego, fear, hatred followed by desire for revenge also can create an unhealthy and destructive atmosphere in human life. In fact, sustaining one of these negative emotions can help develop other negative emotions as well.
The larger theme emphasizes that unmanaged negative human emotions can bring destruction hence we need to be careful to control them as and when it is possible. It will help maintain a healthy state of mind. Otherwise, these emotions can lead you to unbelievable heights of unacceptable negative human actions and reactions.
The poem immediately takes the matter of “anger” into discussion, starting from the first line of the first stanza itself.
The poem provides a vivid comparison between anger expressed and anger unexpressed. The narrator has two different parties towards whom he treats differently with regard to anger and the consequences are also different.
One is a friend and the other is an enemy. The poet distinguishes between the resulting consequences of anger expressed and unexpressed and discusses his opinion using rich poetic expressions.
According to the poet, anger disappears and causes almost no harm when expressed. On the other hand, if not expressed, anger grows with time and explodes causing harm to many.
When analyzed in another perspective, one would get angry with a friend out of concern for his friend. Further, one may show more tendency to forgive a friend than an enemy. Therefore, anger is always meant to be expressed for the betterment of the friend as well as their relationship.
In fact, expressing anger can be seen as a means of anger management which is good for everyone. Hence, anger not properly managed is considered a destructive human emotion.
This message is effectively delivered using a metaphorical language in the poem. The second stanza of the poem starts with the central metaphor of this poem around which the entire poem is woven.
The anger to which the narrator is succumbed to has been metaphorically referred to as a tree. Moving forward, fears and tears are referred to as water whereas false smiles and deceitful schemes or tricks are referred to as sun. Each and every substance helps grow the poisonous tree.
Fears and tears exist due to his lack of bravery or cowardice. Since he is unable to express his real feelings, he has to wear a smile on his face which is irritable. While smiling at his enemy, he is plotting against him underneath by bottling up his anger.
The poet makes it clear that the narrator dwells in his dark emotions of anger until it turns to hatred, requiring him to take revenge by means of causing harm to his enemy.
The shining apple represents the ultimate evil result of his anger. He deceives his enemy by poisoning something which is believed to be sweet and tasty. The apple is also allured by the enemy out of greed for the narrator’s possessions. However, it shows that both the narrator and his enemy have negative emotions about each other which contributes to the devastation of both parties.
According to the final stanza, the poet directly claims that the narrator purposefully causes the death of his enemy while implying that the narrator also causes mental damage within himself.
Finally, both the narrator and his enemy are in delusion; one being deceived and poisoned and the other being unaware of the damage caused within himself. This idea is beautifully brought forward with the two ironic phrases
“into my garden …” ,
“ And he knew that it was mine”.
It metaphorically suggests that “my garden” has the poisonous tree and the poisonous apple in it and the apple is “mine”. In otherwards, My belongings are poisoned, in fact I have poisoned myself with my anger.
Unfortunately, both the narrator and his enemy are consumed by their hatred towards each other.
Though the final lines of the poem bear a joyful tone, it is rather ironic.
“In the morning glad I see..”
The narrator seems to be glorious to find that his schemes have properly worked in his favour and his foe has come forward to cause his own demise. However, the narrator being unaware of his own pitiful plight is emphasized here with the words “..glad I see..”. It is ironic that he is rejoicing over his underhand dealings to destroy his enemy while being unaware of his own pathetic plight.
It is not only the apparent damage on the enemy that is pathetic, but the hidden fact that the act of taking revenge has diminished and contaminated the narrator, is also pathetic.
One can also see that Blake challenges the conventional idea about “nice people” in society. People often tend to favour nice people with nice words than sensible people with straight forward words. It shows here that one can be nice from outside but dangerously vicious from inside. Blakes promotes the person that communicates true feelings and acts benevolent both inside and out.
Therefore, the poem at the end makes a universal appeal on possibilities of bringing in better living by way of communicating negative emotions rather than bottling them inside, forgiving instead of taking revenge, having empathy instead of apathy and spreading love instead of hatred.
Blake uses “End Rhyme” in this poem where the AABB rhyme scheme is followed. Accordingly, each stanza includes two rhyming couplets.
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 and 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.
First two stanzas repeat the word “I” (First person, Subject Pronoun) in each line as follows.
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 and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.
This repetition emphasizes the acts or deeds of the narrator. The narrator is active only in the first two stanzas and he dominates the first half of the poem. However, there is a vivid shift of power in the next two stanzas.
In the third and fourth stanzas, the doer “I” is no more. Things go beyond the narrator’s control. The poison tree which represents “Anger” takes charge from there onwards and both the narrator and the enemy become victims.
The possessive adjective “my” is repeated throughout the poem emphasizing that everything is triggered by the narrator’s own actions, things in his possessions and with his own relationships. Following phrases have often been repeated.
“my foe, my friend, my wrath, my tears, my garden…”
The poet creates many important visual imagery by providing effective and comprehensive descriptions of the key objects personified in this poem.
“ And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears,
….And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright”
The phrases “night and morning, both day and night” help visualize how fast and effectively the tree grew. The phrase “apple bright” helps us imagine how tempting the apple would have been.
“My foe outstretched beneath the tree” generates a comprehensive visualization of the tragic death scene of the enemy.
The narrator narrates the story in the monologue style and brings out a series of actions, happenings and emotions in an order. The events are described only in the narrator’s point of view and the reader is able to dig deep into the narrator’s psychic states through his monologues.
The first person speaker perspective used by the poet does a significant job in attracting the attention and influencing the sentiments of the reader.
The first person singular pronoun repeated throughout the poem in Active Voice sentence structure, effectively creates the atmosphere of someone looking at the results of one’s own doings.
Thus, the poet requires the readers to introspect on their own emotions and learn the message he delivers.
Entire idea of the poem runs through one major metaphor; “A Poison Tree” and there are many more within it. All the metaphors related to the development of the tree creates a dramatic scene of the same in the reader’s mind.
| The Tree | - a metaphor for “anger” |
| Poison | - vengeance / need for revenge |
| Watering the plant | - nurturing anger with fears and tears. |
| Sunshine | - false smiles and deceitful tricks. |
| Garden | - The mind of the narrator. Has biblical reference or Christian Symbolism; the Garden of Eden. |
| The night | - delusion in the minds of the narrator and his enemy / the covertness in the mind of the narrator |
| Apple | - The weapon to kill the enemy. Apple here, originated from the Christian Symbolism, referred to the story of Adam and Eve. |
The title of the poem itself is metaphorical. The title stands for the main theme of the poem. “A Poison Tree” indicates “anger” or in more general terms “the negative emotions” a human being may have.
The title first set by the poet was “Christian Forbearance”. Forbearance is a religious theme which means self-control or tolerance which is criticized in the poem as an impractical means of eradicating negative emotions. It is evident that the poet is cynical about the Church’s standpoint on expression of human emotions and he challenges it through this poem.
However, the published title is more symbolic, easy to understand and also acts as the main metaphor of the poem.
A tree often symbolizes “life” whereas “poison” is symbolic of “death”. This simple but very effective title juxtaposes two contrasting concepts in one line and emphasizes the absurdity of the union of the two words; “Poison Tree”. Thereby, the title of the poem gives an interesting trailer for this poem.
Further, the indefinite article “a” used before the noun phrase suggests that this is one of many trees which are poisoned. It is also suggestive that existence of this type of harmful trees and the destruction they may cause are universal.
In other words, people nurture negative emotions by suppressing them and there are multiplied negative consequences out there.
The tree is personified in the poem. It appears more like an evil being which grows on its own and takes revenge.
The tree grows day and night and gives birth to a poisonous apple with the intention of taking revenge.
How the growth and the action of taking revenge has been portrayed is so unlikely for a tree but more like a human action. Therefore, one may get startled at the evil tree.
Towards the end of the poem, there is a sudden change of tense. The last two lines vividly indicate that the outcome of all the past deeds is apparent in the present.
“In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.”
This change of tense intensifies the gravity of the outcome. The destructive outcome; the death of his enemy is portrayed with a dramatic effect where the body is lying under the tree as we speak or by the time the reader is reading the last few lines of the poem. It suggests that the consequences of the suppressed emotions may continue.
The poet uses the same letter or sound at the beginning of words to give a better understanding of the meaning. This also adds musicality to the poem.
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
William Blake is an English poet who belongs to the Romantic Era and is also considered a visionary of his time. He was also a famous painter. The subject matter of many of his poems was human emotions.
“A Poison Tree” is one of the most appreciated poems by William Blake. This poem appears in his collection of poems named “Songs of Experience”. “A Poison Tree” was published in 1794. Though most of his work was not recognized during his time, they gained massive popularity and appreciation at later times.
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