Instructions

a. Read and translate this poem in order to understand it

b. Please PRINT and PASTE all the pages in your exercise book
c.

MUST answer all the following questions

d. We will discuss on 8 January 2017

A Poison Tree
Stanza 1
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
Stanza 2
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles
Stanza 3
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
Stanza 4
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree

Meaning of each stanza

Stanza 1
Line
1

Stanza 1
I was angry with my
friend

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 my wrath (anger) to

my friend and I got over
my anger
I was angry with my foe
(enemy)

I told it not, my
wrath did grow

I did not tell my wrath to

my foe, so my anger grew

Meaning of 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 did not tell
him about it. I bottled up
my wrath and it
intensified. It grew and
grew like a plant.

Stanza 2
Line Stanza 2
1
And I
watered it
in fears,

Night and
morning
with my
tears

And I
sunned it
with smiles

And with
soft
deceitful
wiles

Line-by-line meaning
I treated my anger like a
plant. A plant needs water
and sunshine. Likewise,
every day I nourished my
wrath with water in the
form of fears and tears.
I also gave my anger-tree
sunshine in the form of
smiles and cunning tricks.

Meaning of 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
Line

Stanza 3

And it grew both

day and night

Line-by-line
meaning
My tree of anger
grew steadily every
day until it bore an

Meaning of stanza 3
My tree was poisonous because it
was full of anger, hatred and
suspicion. Later, it bore a shiny

Till it bore an apple

bright

And my foe beheld

it shine

And he knew that it

was mine

apple. Outwardly, it
was shiny but it was
poisonous.
My enemy saw the
shiny apple and he
knew it was mine.

poison apple. My foe saw it and

knew it was mine.

Stanza 4
Line Stanza 4
1
And into my garden
stole

When the night had

veiled the pole

In the morning glad I

see
tree

My foe outstretched
beneath the

Line-by-line meaning
One night, when
darkness hid the pole
star (the brightest star
in the sky), my foe
crept into my garden.
He stole my apple.
In the morning, I was
happy to see my foe
lying dead under the
tree.

Meaning of 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.

Poison Tree Synopsis

In A Poison Tree, William Blake illustrates the moral value through a parable. He
describes how we behave towards a friend and foe when we have a tiff or
misunderstanding. We can talk about our wrath to our friend, but we find it hard to talk
about it to our foe.
In this poem, the persona is angry with his foe over a misunderstanding. He does not
talk about his anger, so it grows like a tree. As time goes on, his anger, hatred, and
suspicion increase. He pretends to be friendly and kind to his foe so that he will trust
and be close to him. The personas foe does not know he is being tricked.
When the personas anger and hatred grow into a huge deadly poisonous tree, he
becomes revengeful and scheming. He plots to kill his foe in his own garden.
Ultimately, the personas poison tree bears a bad poisonous apple.
His enemy is tricked and falls into his trap. He sees the bright apple and is tempted to
eat it. One dark night, he creeps into the personas garden and steals the poison apple.
He eats it and falls dead under the poison tree. The persona is happy that his sinister
plan has worked.

From this poem, we learn that we should forgive and forget when we have a
misunderstanding with our friends and foes. Thus, it is important to talk about any
misunderstanding we may have and why we feel angry to get over it. We should also
not bottle up our ill feelings and harbor grudges.
Themes and Moral Values
Themes
Dangers of harbouring wrath and hatred/
harbouring ill feelings against someone
The dangers of repressing anger/ Bottling
up ill feeling
The importance of communicating when
there is a misunderstanding
Forgiving and forgetting

Moral Values
We must not harbor wrath and hatred
against anyone. We must not harbor ill
feelings against anyone.
Suppressing anger is bad for us and those
around us./ Bottling up ill feelings is bad
for us and those around us.
When there is a misunderstanding, we
should talk about it to resolve our
differences.
When there is misunderstanding, we
should forgive and forget.

Answer all these Sample questions

1. With whom is the persona angry?
____________________________________________
2. Why do you think the persona is angry with them?
____________________________________________
3. To what does William Blakes poison tree refer?
____________________________________________
4. How does the persona trick his foe? Give a reason for your answer.
____________________________________________
5. What are the two things he does to make his anger grow like a tree?
a. _________________________________________
b. _________________________________________
6. To what does the persona compare his growing anger?
____________________________________________
7. What does the personas tree bear a poison apple?
____________________________________________
8. What is the personas sinister plan?
____________________________________________

9. Explain the phrase veiled the pole (stanza 4, line 2)

____________________________________________
10. What happens to his enemy eventually? Give a reason for your answer.
____________________________________________
11. How does the persona feel about it?
____________________________________________
12. In the end, is the persona or the personas foe the loser? Give a reason for your
answer.
____________________________________________
13. Write down two things that you can learn from this poem.
____________________________________________

Instruction : Answer the questions in each stanza

Stanza 1
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
1. What is the meaning of wrath in line 2?
______________________________________
2. Why did the wrath with the personas friend end?
______________________________________
3. Why do you think he did not tell his foe about his wrath?
______________________________________
4. What would you do if you had a misunderstanding with your foe?
______________________________________

Stanza 2
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles
1. To what is it in this stanza compared?
______________________________________
2. Which two words in this stanza is evidence for your answer?
______________________________________
3. What does the phrase night and morning in line 2 mean?
______________________________________
4. Give an example of the personas deceitful wiles from this stanza.
______________________________________
5. Why did the persona use soft deceitful wiles?
______________________________________
Stanza 3
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
1. To what does the apple in line 2 refer?
____________________________________
2. What does the word beheld in line 3 mean?
____________________________________
3. How did the persona feel about the apple?
____________________________________
4. What do you think the personas foe did after this?
____________________________________

Stanza 4
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree
1. What tone is implied in line 1?
___________________________________
2. Which word is evidence of this?
___________________________________
3. What happened to the personas foe eventually?
___________________________________
4. What was the persona reaction to this?
___________________________________
5. What does this indicate about the persona?
___________________________________