Prepared by: Porshothman Elenggoven

Form 5 Literature - Poem

A POISON TREE by William Blake

Stanza 1
Lin
e
1
2
3
4

Stanza 1

Line by line meaning

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

I was angry with my friend

I told my wrath(anger) to my friend and I got
over my anger.
I was angry with my foe (enemy)
I did not tell my wrath to my foe, so my anger
grew.

Stanza 2
Lin
e
1

Stanza 1

Line by line meaning

And I watered it in fears.

Night and morning with my

tears
And I sunned it with smiles.
And with soft deceitful wiles.

I treated my anger like a plant. A plant needs

water and sunshine. Likewise, everyday I
nourished my wrath with water in the form of
tears and fears.
I also gave my anger-tree sunshine in the
form of smiles and cunning tricks.

3
4

Stanza 3
Lin
e
1
2

Stanza 1

Line by line meaning

And it grew both day and night

Till it bore an apple bright

3
4

And my foe beheld it shine

And he knew it was mine

My tree of anger grew steadily everyday until

it bore an apple. It was shiny but it was
poisonous.
My enemy saw the shiny apple and he knew
it was mine.

Stanza 4
Lin
e
1
2
3
4

Stanza 1

Line by line meaning

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the
pole
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath
the tree

One night, when darkness hid the pole star,

my foe crept into the garden. He stole my
apple.
In the morning, I was happy to see my foe
lying dead under the tree.

Prepared by: Porshothman Elenggoven

Form 5 Literature - Poem

Themes:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Forgiving and forgetting

The importance of communicating when there is a misunderstanding.
The dangers of repressing anger
Dangers of wrath and hatred.

iThink

Write four suitable adjectives to describe the person and the personas poison tree
in the poem.

The persona

The personas
poison tree

HOTS
LETS DISCUSS ABOUT YOUR ENEMY!
Think about one of your enemies.
Why do you consider them as your enemy?
How did you treat them?
Share it with the class!