[1087] A Poison Tree
Guest poem sent in by Vivian Eden <vivian@>
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 water'd 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 veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.
-- William Blake
|
from "Songs of Experience"
Taking off from the subject of friendship, Blake goes into the nature of
enmity. There is no one like Blake for talking about the darker emotions --
anger, hatred, Schadenfreude. The "apple bright" in the garden brings to
mind the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; Man is crueller
than the God of Genesis and inflicts death rather than banishment from
Paradise.
Vivian
From: Dsyharrelson@
Can anyone tell me what is meant in the 4th stanza, "when the night had
veiled the pole;"
I am a bit lost on what he is referring to...any suggestions would be great,
thanks
From: "crazyy99@" <happytime43@hotmail.com>
The line in William Blake's A Poison Tree, when he says "When the night
had veiled the pole", Pole means sky, so he means, when the night
covered the sky or when the sky got dark.
From: "Daeton Chang" <daetonc2200@>
Hi. I'm doing a worksheet for my english class that deals with the poem A
Poison Tree. The poet's name is William Blake.I don't really understand
what the poem is about. I've read the poem over and over but I still don't
understand what it means. Could you please give me a in-depth summary of
each stanza? Thank you very much.
Sincerely, Daeton
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From: "Clem Byard" <cbyard@>
Hi Vivian,
You say this poem sees: "Man is crueller than the God of Genesis and
inflicts death rather than banishment from
Paradise." Blake seems to say in some of his other poems that there is
no other God apart from the one we meet in other people. Also I think I
see death and banishment from paradise as the same thing, something
along the lines of Milton with "the fruit of that forbidden tree whose
mortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe...."
Regards, Clem B.
From: "CIPRIANO BARBOSA" <diandociba@>
I am also doing a paper on The Poison Tree, but don't really understand
it.
From: "CIPRIANO BARBOSA" <diandociba@>
I would really appreciate if someone could briefly explain each stanza
in its entirety. Thank you!
From: Jasper Gilmour <Jasper@>
Stop trying to get your work done for you, no one is going to explain the whole poem for your.
Jeesper Gilmoor
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Stop trying to get your work done for you, no one
is going to explain the whole poem for your.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jeesper Gilmoor</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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From: "greg patterson" <pattersondp@>
hey jeesper. stop being an asshole. I bet that person was kind of upset
that you told them that they don't deserve any help. They were just
trying to understand the poem. Now go make yourself feel more
intellegent, go to every poetry website you can find where people are
looking for help and leave comments similar to: " no! of coarse you
cannot recieve help on the internet! how dare you! certainly you don't
understand because you are not like I, who has an unfathomable capacity
to interpret every piece of literature known to man. without any help of
coarse." I'm sure they will all reconsider their motives for using
online poetry comment boards, taking into consideration how strongly you
disagree with their methods of gathering information. Now have a
fabulous day, go fall off a cliff.
From: "kleeyong" <kleeyong@>
Lol! Greg is funnie!! Anyway, I'll try to help, but I'm only 15, n
it
might not b very good=85
In the first stanza, Blake tells us that when he told his
`wrath' =96 the person he was angry with, his friend- that he was
angry
with him, they resolved the issue, and his anger dissipated. However, he
could not do the same with his foe, keeping his anger a secret, hiding
it under a façade of indifference. Hence, his wrath grew, as a
seedling
into a tree, the feeding on his hatred and fear, thriving in his
hypocrisy, `And I sunned it with smiles, and with soft deceitful
wiles.'
and vicious thoughts. As it was nurtured with `poisonous'
intentions, it
became `a poison tree' as in the title. After manifesting itself
into a
tree, his wrath bore a seemingly harmless fruit- the apple. This apple
was, `bright', having an attractive `shine' and tempting his
foe. His
foe then crept into his `garden' without the poet's knowledge-`
And into
my garden stole. When the night had veiled the pole'- and probably ate
this poisonous `apple', the full power of this vicious, repressed
anger
unleashed with the every bite, overwhelming the foe.
From: Sophia Chan <sophia.chan@>
hi. im also doin a project on this poem and i hav 2 say why he wrote it.
could anyone tell me why?
From: "Sophia (Hotmail)" <sophiawschan@>
Hi. Im also doing a project on this poem. I have to say why he wrote it.
Can anyone tell me why?
From: "Tracey Hector" <traceyh@>
Hi I don't understand the metaphorical language used in the poem. Did
his foe eat his anger, or the "apple"? Why would he want his
anger?-Lauren
From: Trudi Moirson <trudym@>
Hi Lauren,
The apple used in this poem is a physical manifestation of the
narrator's anger and hate. It is a way for him to harm his foe or 'get
payback' without it being direct or obvious so that he can kill his foe
without any one knowing. Or at least lure his foe into his trap.
regards Milly.
oh, and to everyone else out there who keeps adding things on here that
are just plain nasty can you please stop. There is no point we are all
here for the poetry not to argue. And thanks to all those people who are
willing to help because its you who will help the rest of us pass. You
have to give a little to take a little.
From: "Adams" <aadams4@>
Hi Trudi. After reading this poem, I must say that I disagree with
your interperetation of this poem. The apple does not symbolize some
sort of passive-agressive way to get back at the writer's enemy. Rather,
it it an explosion of all the hate and anger built up inside him. It
could not have been indirect, and it was certainly obvious, for the
writer must have made direct contact with his enemy in order to kill him.
From: hazel&Bill <hazbill@>
I have a site that may help people to understand this wonderful poem.It's a guide for teachers but may help students too...http://geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/3329/teach/poison-tree.htm
Good Luck..Hazel
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<META content="MSHTML 5.00.2919.6307" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
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<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>I have a site that may help people to
understand this wonderful poem.It's a guide for teachers but may help students
too...http://geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/3329/teach/poison-tree.htm
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=4>Good
Luck..Hazel</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_QKO1DVF5HIWQoZOQ2WYhSg)--
From: "Louise Birkemose" <hovsa_henriette@>
Well, let me see if I can interpret this poem. I am Danish, so bear with me
if my writing has flaws. Okay. First Stanzy obviously say that this guy is
angry with his friend. He talks with his friend about it and his wrath ends.
They talk about the problem. Woohoo, good for them! However, you can't
walkways have anice chat with your foe, and this is the same. He's probably
too proud to talk with his foe about it, and as such his wrath and hatred
grows in him.
2nd stanza: He says he watered it in fear and so on. This is most likely
mentally happening. Every time he thinks of this foe he feels sad, and then
angered. We can pretend his hatred is a seed. His tears are water and his
cold words and smile to his foe is the sun. That's how you grow a little
tree. Woohoo, good for him!
3rd Stanza: So now the little seed grows to a tree. He waters it and suns it
and it grows and grows. The apple represents, perhaps, the last action or
word ever made or uttered. The tree is in such case mental. In him. We can
also say that the tree exist, in the backyard or whatever, and our man
poison the first apple, knowing that his foe will do much to harm our little
man.
4th stanza: And here we have our ending. The foe can be killed with an
action, or if it really was a tree in the garden he would've been killed by
the apple. It's all very methaphoric. The foe enters the garden when the sky
is dark, meaning it's night, and steals the apple. He eats it and next
morning our man finds him under the tree, outstretched.
You could also say that this apple that the foe steals is our man's
girlfriend. You can interpret this in so many ways. Now I'm off to interpret
other poems, because I don't have a life. Woohoo!
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From: Aida <bebitaazulita23@>
the apple in the poem is suppose to signify the fruit of his anger. What happens when you hold in anger too long? it grows..... so it signifys that his anger gave fruit and it was the apple
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From: FirstDarkAvenger@
The meaning to this poem? Not sure but I think its about not storing your
anger. Try resolving it with words not hate
From: <anfoto98@>
will someone please explain to me what exactly the poem means. i know
what the first stanza is but i am kind of confused about the last 3..
someone please help!!
*Dani
From: "TOMIAN HAR." <ODAAA@>
thank you all for these precios comments . they were so helpful for me .
and i would like to add somethig about the "garden" : what is it ? is it
the heart ? the feelings ?the whole negative emotions which gives the
tree the power and the suitable environment to grow up and for the app;e
to bear?
From: "M Murphy" <the4ofus@>
in answer to Dani's question - anfoto98@ there's no exact way of
explaining EXACTLY what this poem is about as its all open to
interpretation, if it helps here's my view of it!!
1st stanza: two different situations. first - what happens when anger is
adressed, the problem is solved. second - what happens when anger is
left to "grow", it gets BAD! in this case it manifests itself into the
physical form of an apple (as trudi moirsen said)
2nd stanza: the watering, sunning etc appears to be the bitter emotion
that builds up, in other words, the care and time one would put into
growing a plant/tree.
3rd and 4th stanza: the "foe" steals the fruit, i feel this could be
symbollic of the sin of jealousy maybe provocation. the "veiling" of the
pole again implies sin or deceit. and the "outstretched foe" is the
narrator's revenge, though death isnt actually mentioned, we are led to
believe this is the case.
there are of course 100s of other deeper meaning, some delving a little
too deep. hopefully thats helped you, ive only scratched the surface
feel free to carry on...
tomian har - odaaa@
again more than one interpretation, liking yours. Could one draw
parallels to the biblical story of the garden of eden? sorry if this has
been mentioned already, have not read all comments
hope ive helped anyone
TOM
From: sheena burce <pyro_o83@>
thanks to all of you who interpreted this poem. now, some of your ideas can be my interpretation on our poem recitation for the next two days....
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From: "_Oritsegbemi_E._Jakpa_" <jakorem@>
The Poison Tree, by William Blake, copied below is a clean example of how anger can develop, degeneratively, if unexpressed for too long, and leads to and end-product of extremes unreasonable outbust of feelings that almost always cuases a sad effect. But in this case the writer was glad – last but one line tells us this. We should not forget that the apple – means any one can eat it –, hence friends and foe are equally prone to either by direct or transferred wrath. I still believe anger of this nature can be creatively transferred to places like love, writing, … Obviously his foe my think what he did is harmless.
Jakpa, Oritsegbemi Emmanuel
133 King House
Du Cane Road
London
jakorem@
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