A Poison Tree by William Blake

Stanza 1

I was angry with my friend: (line 1)
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. (line 2)
I was angry with my foe: (line 3)
I told it not, my wrath did grow. (line 4)

Stanza 2

And I watered it in fears, (line 1)
Night and morning with my tears; (line 2)
And I sunned it with smiles, (line 3)
And with soft deceitful wiles. (line 4)

Stanza 3

And it grew both day and night, (line 1)
Till it bore an apple bright;(line 2)
And my foe beheld it shine, (line 3)
And he knew that it was mine, (line 4)

Stanza 4

And into my garden stole (line 1)
When the night had veiled the pole: (line 2)
In the morning glad I see (line 3)
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.(line 4)

Line by line Meaning

Stanza 1- I had a misunderstanding with my friend and was angry. I told my friend about my wrath. I got over my anger and forgot it. But when I got angry with my foe, I didn't tell him about it. I bottled up my wrath and it intensified. It grew and grew like a plant.

Stanza 2- My anger grew like a tree. I nourished my anger-tree with anger, suspicion and hatred. I was suspicious of my foe and I was angry with him. But I tricked him to bring him closer to me. Outwardly, I smiled and I was friendly to gain his trust.

Stanza 3- My "tree" was poisonous because it was full of anger, hatred and suspicion. Later, it bore a shiny poison apple. My foe saw it and knew it was mine.

Stanza 4- One night when there were no stars, my foe came into my garden and stole my poison apple. He fell into my trap. He ate the apple and died. In the morning, I was happy to see him lying dead under my poison tree.

Summary of the Poem

In this poem, the persona is angry after a misunderstanding with his friend and his foe. He talks about the misunderstanding with his friend and gets over his anger. But he doesn't talk about his anger to his foe, so his anger increases and grows into an anger-plant.

The persona treats his growing anger like a growing plant. He feeds the seed of his "plant" with anger and hatred. He waters it with doubt, suspicion and hatred and he nourishes it with fake sunshine. He gives his anger-plant "smiles" and "deceitful wiles". Outwardly, the persona smiles and is friendly to his foe so that he will trust him and be close to him. He is scheming to trick and trap his foe. His increasing anger and hatred grows into a poison tree. The poison is actually the persona's wrath and hatred for his foe.

Then the persona becomes spiteful, revengeful and murderous as his anger and hatred intensify. He plots to kill his foe and his devious plan works when his poison tree bears a deadly poison apple. The persona's foe sees it and is tempted to eat it. One dark night, he sneaks into the persona's garden and steals his poison apple. Then he eats it and dies. The next morning, the persona is happy to see him lying dead under his poison tree.

Setting

• Place - in his garden , under the poison tree
• Time - in the darkness of the night , the next morning

Tone

Anger, bitterness and maliciousness- The persona is extremely angry with his foe. As his anger intensifies, he becomes scheming and murderous. In Stanza 4, the tone is also accusing. The persona accuses his foe of stealing his apple in his garden at night.

Themes and Moral Values

1. The importance of communicating when there is a misunderstanding- When there is a misunderstanding, we should talk about it to resolve our differences.
2. Harbouring ill feelings against someone- We shouldn't harbour ill feelings against anyone.
3. Forgiving and forgetting- When there is a misunderstanding, we must forgive and forget.
4. Bottling up ill feelings- Bottling up ill feelings is bad for us and those around us.

Word vs Meaning

• wrath ~ extreme anger
• foe ~ enemy
• watered ~ poured water on plants
• sunned ~ provided sunshine
• deceitful ~ dishonest behaviour to make people believe things which are not true 
• wiles ~ clever tricks a person uses to get what he wants 
• bore ~ produced fruit
• beheld ~ looked at or saw
• veiled ~ covered with something to hide something partly or completely
• pole ~ the Pole star which is the star that is above the North Pole in the sky