A Poison Tree
A Poison Tree - meaning Summary
Anger Grown Becomes Deadly
Blake’s poem shows how unspoken anger, when nurtured, transforms into something destructive. The speaker contrasts telling a friend, which ends wrath, with concealing anger toward a foe, which he cultivates through fear, tears, smiles and deceit. This hidden wrath becomes a growing tree bearing a bright apple that lures the enemy and results in the foe’s death, suggesting moral and social consequences of repression and vindictive secrecy.
Read Complete AnalysesI 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.
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