A Poison Tree - William Blake

About the Author

William Blake ( 1757-1827 ) is regarded as the most original of the English Romantic poets. Unfortunately, he was mostly neglected and was even thought of as a mad person in his times. He was an engraver, artist, poet, and visionary. He wrote wonderful lyrics in his collections entitled Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience published in 1794. He also painted scenes from the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. His works are classed as ' prophetic books ' such as Visions of the Daughters of Albion ( 1793 ), The First Book of Urizen ( 1794 ), Milton ( 1810 ), and Jerusalem ( 1812 ) are deeply philosophical, difficult and long series of poems. He engraved, colored, printed, stitched, and sold these words, with the help of his wife, Catherine. Some of his highly appreciated poems are " The Lamb " - " The T ger " and " London ", The " Jerusalem ", lyric from Milton Is also very popular. It has become a kind of second national anthem in Britain. Blake has become one of the most favorite poets in academic circles in modern times. His Songs of Experience contain poems that appeal the modern readers and scholars because he takes a radical stand in questioning some of the schemes of God.

William Blake

Summary

The poem poison Tree' is written by William Blake. This is a song-Like poem taken from William Blake's Song of Innocence and of experience (1794). The Part, songs of Experience; has 26 poems including "A poison Tree". This part is an expression of grief regarding how the tough experiences of adult life destroy the innocence of the earlier phase or the growing up years in the human life. The poem is written in the first person narrated by the poet. The poet is expressing his anger and hatred towards his enemy. The poet has used a metaphoric style for instance, 'apple' depicts his vengeance; the tree depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his enemy. In the first stanza, the poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his foe, but he has also depicted the difference between the two types of anger. When he was angry with his friend he simply told his friend about his anger. This action of telling had a positive effect. It put an end to his bad feelings.

The action states that when you are angry with a friend, you convince your heart to forgive him. Even though you are hurt and 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 he was angry with his enemy. that time he didn't tell about his anger to his enemy. Hence. the feeling of anger developed more. It states that 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. In the second stanza, the speaker refers to the title of the poem and uses the metaphor of the tree. The poet is making a confession that 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 to- gether, crying for the ill that has been caused to him by his enemy. He uses the metaphor of the tree. This tree is nurtured by feelings of fear and resentment. While these feelings were inside the poet's mind, he covered them with false smiles. This acted like Sunlight for the growth of the poisoned tree (Soft deceitful wiles' that are the tricks to hide his real hatred): Thus the anger continued to grow and it became more dangerous. Now, the speaker felt the need for revenge. The tree grew and produced fruit. In the third stanza, 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 where he can't turn back and forget about his enemy until he does something to Soothe his vengeance. Finally, the day comes when the poet's enemy has met the evil fruit of vengeance, and he has grown with his fears, tears, and Sarcasm. This bright apple attracted the enemy's attention. He knew that the fruit belonged to the poet. The fruit has now turned into a weapon. When the enemy confronts this anger it is time for the weapon to serve the purpose that it has been made for. In the final stanza, it is described how one night the enemy sneaked into the poet's garden and ate the apple from this tree. This was the fruit of the poison tree. So, When the enemy ate it, he died, When the poet wakes up in the morning and glimpses the garden, he sees something that relaxes his mind and calms his vengeance forever.

There he is; his enemy, dead under the tree of his heart. The association of this 'poison tree' is with the idea that when a person cultivates anger and hatred towards someone, these feeling can turn into something dangerous and they may result in the destruction of the enemy. At the same time, the poem suggests that these are not healthy feelings. They should not be kept in mind. If they grow, then one also Starts to hate oneself. In this poem, the part was forced to hide his anger. He, therefore, acted dishonestly and falsely. It killed his city and he says that it made him glad, but the readers know that this is not real happiness. Actually, the speaker has started to hate himself. The poison tree that was grown by him hurts himself also. From a good person, he has become a dishonest and de creative person. The poem tries to explore the shameful effects of anger. The cultivation of Anger is the principal theme of this poem. It tells about how the suppression of anger leads' to the growth of anger and other destructive feelings. When we do not express anger and acknowledge it, anger or 'Wrath' is cultivated by the mind. It becomes a destructive force.

The poem compares suppression versus expression and also speaks about falseness in human nature. We can interpret the poem as a tale-telling about the people who pretend to be friendly but they may be hiding their real feelings. The poem also suggests that all persons can be guilty of suppressing their inner emotions and this can become deadly to the outside world.

Short Answer type Question

Q.1:- How is the poison tree nurtured?

Ans:- The poem "A Poison Tree" is written by William Blake. This is a song-like poem taken from William Blakes's songs of Innocence and of Experience. This poem is part of his 'Song of Experience which includes 26 poems. This poem is an expression of grief regarding how the tough experiences of adult life destroy the innocence of the earlier phase or the growing up years in the human life. The poem recounts a very common emotional reaction anger, about which the speaker narrates. It is a poem written in simple language but it has emotional content. The poem is written in the first person narrated by the poet. The poet is expressing his anger and hatred towards his enemy. The poet has used a metaphoric style, for ex:-'an apple' depicts his vengeance; 'a tree' depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his enemy. In the first stanza of the poem, the poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his foe, but he has also depicted the difference between the two types of anger. When he was angry with his friend he simply told his friend about his anger. This action of telling had a positive effect on his friend as well as on himself.

The result is that it put an end to his bad feelings. This action states that when you are angry with a friend, you convince your heart to forgive him. Even though you are hurt and 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 he was angry with his enemy he didn't tell about his anger to his enemy. Hence, the feeling of anger developed more. It states that 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.

The speaker uses the metaphor of the tree. The poet is making a confession that 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. This tree is used as a metaphor which is like anger or hatred growing in the mind of the poet. This tree is nurtured by feelings of fear and resentment. While these feelings were inside the poet's mind, he covered them with false smiles. This acted like sunlight for the growth of the poisoned tree. Thus, the anger continued to grow and it became more dangerous. Now, the speaker felt the need for revenge. In this way, the poison tree is nurtured by the poet himself in his mind not for his friend but for his enemy.

Q. 2:- What happens when the foe sees the bright apple?

Ans:- The poem 'A poison Tree', is written by William Blake. This poem is the part of songs of Experience, which included 26 poems. In this poem, the poet expresses the grief regarding how the tough experiences of adult life destroy the innocence of the earlier phase or the growing up years in the human life. The poet is expressing his anger and hatred towards his enemy. The poet has used a metaphor, forex, 'an apple', to depict his vengeance; "the tree", depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his enemy. In the first stanza of the poem, the poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his foe, but he has also depicted the difference between the two types of anger. When he was angry with his friend he simply told his friend about his anger. This action of telling had a positive effect on his friend as well as on himself and the result is that the poet put an end to his bad feelings. This action states that when you are angry with your friend you convince your heart to forgive him. Even though you are hurt and 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 he was angry with his enemy that time he didn't tell him about his anger toward his enemy. Hence, the feeling of anger developed more.

The poet uses the metaphor of the trees to depict his loss of patience and his hatred which grows like a tree in his mind, The poet is making a confession that 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. This tree is nurtured by feelings of fear and resentment. While these feelings were inside the poet's mind, he covered them with false smiles. Thus, the anger continued to grow and it became more dangerous. The poet states that the hatred has grown every day in the mind of the poet and it gave birth to an apple. The fruit signifies the evil that has taken birth in the heart of the poet. The day has come finally when the poet's enemy has met the evil fruit of vengeance, that he has grown with his fears, tears, and sarcasm. This bright apple attracted the enemy's attention. He knew that the fruit belonged to the poet.

The fruit has now turned into a weapon. One night the enemy entered Secretly into the poet's garden and ate the apple from this tree, which was the fruit of the poison tree. When the enemy ate the fruit he died under the tree calmly. When the poet wakes up in the morning and glimpses the garden, he sees something that relaxes his mind and calms his vengeance forever. His enemy is dead under the tree of his hatred.

Long Answer type Question

Q. 1:- Describe how the poem brings out the evil effects of suppressed anger.

Ans:- The poem, poem is taken from his collection of poems "Songs of Experience which has contained 26 poems including "A poison Tree." This poem is an expression of grief regarding how the tough experiences of adult life destroy the innocence of the earlier phase or the growing up years in the human life. The poem is expressing his anger and hatred toward his enemy. The poet has used the metaphor for instance "apple" depicts his vengeance; and the tree depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his enemy. In the first stanza, the poet is not only expressing his "A poison Tree", which is written by William Blake.

The anger towards his friend as well as his foe (enemy), but he has also depicted the difference between two types of anger. When he was angry with his friend he simply told his friend about his anger. This action of telling had a positive effect on the poet himself as well as on his friend. It put an end to his had feelings. This action states that when you are angry with a friend you convince your heart to forgive him. Even though you are hurt and 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 he was angry with his enemy that time he didn't tell him about his anger toward his enemy. Hence, the feeling of anger developed more. It states that when you are angry with an enemy, it takes ages for you to calm your anger. In the second stanza, the poet uses the metaphor of the "tree" The poet is making a confession that it is he, who is solely responsible for the hatred that has grown in his heart for his enemy. He has nurtured the hatred with his fears, spending hours together, crying for the ill that has been caused to him by his enemy. This tree is nurtured by the feelings of fears and resentment, while these feelings were inside the poet's mind, he covered them with false smiles. This acted like sunlight for the growth of the poisoned tree. Thus, the anger continued to grow and it become more dangerous. In the next stanza, 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. Finally, the day comes when the poet's enemy has met the evil fruit of vengeance, and he has grown with his fears, tears, and sarcasm. This bright apple attracted the enemy's attention. He knew that the fruit belonged to the poet. One night the enemy entered into poet's garden and ate the apple from his tree. This was the fruit of the poison tree. So, when the enemy ate it, he died. when the poet wakes up in the morning and glimpses the garden he sees something that relaxes his mind and calms his vengeance forever. There he is; his enemy was dead under the tree of his hatred. The poem tries to explore the Shameful effects of anger. The cultivation of Anger is the principal theme of this poem. It tells about how the suppression of anger leads to the growth of anger and other destructive feelings. When we do not express anger and acknowledge it, anger or "Wrath" is cultivated by the mind. It becomes a destructive force. The poem compares suppression versus expression and also speaks about falseness in human nature. The poem also suggests that all persons can be guilty of suppressing their inner emotions and this can become deadly to the outside world.

Q. 2:-Examine the themes of expression versus suppression as depicted in this poem.

Ans:- The poem 'A poison Tree' is written by William Blake. It was published in the year 1994 in his collection of songs Of Experience which tells about Various emotions of humans. 'A Poison Tree' forces you to look deep down inside your own self. This poem is the part of songs of Experiences that express the grief regarding how the tough experiences of adult life destroy the innocence of earlier phases of the growing up years in the human life. tries to explore the Shameful effects of anger. It tells about how the Suppression of anger leads to the growth of anger and other destructive feelings. The poem opens with the poet's two types of anger. The poet is expressing his anger and hatred towards his enemy. The poet has used metaphoric style for instance, 'apple' depicts his vengeance; 'tree' depicts his loss of patience, underneath which he kills his enemy. In the first stanza, the poet is not only expressing his anger towards his friend as well as his foe, but he has also depicted the difference between two types of anger, when he was angry with his friend he simply told his friend about his anger. This action of telling had a positive effect on himself as well as on his friend. It put an end to his bad feelings. This action shows that when you are angry with your friend, you convince your heart to forgive him. Even though you are hurt and 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 he was angry with his enemy that time he didn't tell him about his anger toward his enemy. The poem's cultivation of Anger is the principal theme of this poem.

Hence, the feeling of anger developed more. It takes ages for you to calm your anger. Yet, the anger and the feeling of Vengeance do not diminish even with time. Here, the poet's anger for his friend is the example of expression and his anger for his enemy is the example of suppression. Then the poet uses the metaphor of a tree for his anger which is growing in his mind for his enemy. This tree is nurtured (watered) by feelings of fear and resentment. While their feelings were inside the poet's mind, he covered them with false smiles. So the tree grew and pro- duced a fruit, an apple is described to be Sprouting from this poisonous tree of anger. This bright apple attracted the enemy's attention. He knew that the fruit belonged to the poet. One night the enemy sneaked into the poet's garden and ate the apple from this tree. This was the fruit of the poison tree. So the enemy ate it, and he died.

The next morning his dead body was found lying under the tree. The association of this "Poison Tree" is with the idea that when a person cultivates anger and hatred towards someone, these feelings can turn into something dangerous and they. may result in the destruction of the enemy. At the same time, the poem suggests that these are not healthy feelings. They should not be kept in mind. If they grow, they also start to hate themselves. In this poem, the poet was forced to hide his anger. He, therefore, acted dishonestly and falsely. It killed his enemy and he says that it made him glad, but the readers know that this is not real happiness. Actually, the speaker has started to hate himself.“ In this way, the poem tells about how the suppression of anger leads to the growth of anger and other destructive feelings. When we do not express anger and acknowledge it, anger or wrath is cultivated by the mind. It becomes a destructive force.

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