SPM ENGLISH : A Poison Tree (notes)

A Poison Tree by William Blake

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.

And I water'd it in fears,
Night & 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 veil'd the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.

OVERVIEW

This poem is a very interesting as it shows us just how important resolving a problem is. The persona in this poem goes to a great length, trying to gain his enemy's trust before killing him. This illustrates how repressed anger may leads to a destructive hate. Something totally unnecessary as it can be resolved by simply communicating with each other. Just like he did with his friend whom at first he got mad at too. 

MEANING OF LINE

1.  Stanza 1
   The person is angry with his friend and talks it out. Thus, his anger dissipated, and the friendship remains intact. However, he keeps quiet when he is angry with his friend. Thus, his anger grows even more intense within him. 
2. Stanza 2
   He lets his anger flourish, everyday, day and night, with his 'fears', 'tears', 'smiles' and 'soft deceitful wiles'. He is acting in deceitful ways.
3. Stanza 3
   Through the persona's efforts, the tree grew to become a poison tree. And the tree eventually bears fruit- 'an apple bright' which the enemy clearly knew that it belonged to the persona. Somehow, the apple is very attractive in the enemy's eye.
4. Stanza 4
   Due the attractiveness of the 'apple', it lures the enemy to sneak into the persona's garden at night. During the night, the 'pole star' is hidden and cannot protect or guide the enemy from the danger of the 'apple bright'. The 'pole star' is the North Star or Polaris, a bright star permanently in the sky still used by navigators to avoid dangers while travelling. The 'foe' eats the apple, got poisoned, eventually dies. And the persona is more than glad to see that

SETTING

• Place : Persona's garden, probably in England, but it can be anywhere as the poem is an allegory. (Allegory means a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.)
• Time : Not specified, but events happen from morning until night for a period of time.

THEME

•  Suppressing Anger
• The importance of communication
• Patience
• Forgiveness

PERSONA

An intelligent and scheming person who can act well and be hypocritical in his friendship with his foe. 

 MORAL VALUES

• Truthfulness
• Forgiveness
• Rationality
• Communicate to resolve problems

LANGUAGE AND STYLE 

• Poem is a mini allegory
• Poem has four stanzas of four lines each
• Rhyming scheme is aa bb
• Rhythm is bouncy as if he is gaily recounting and rejoicing over his enemy's death

LITERARY DEVICES

1. Metaphor
   - The persona's growing anger is likened to the process of growing a tress. Instead of water, sunshine and fertilizer, he provides his tree of anger with 'tears', 'fears' , 'smiles' and 'deceitful wiles'.
2. Alliteration
   -The repeated 's' sounds in stanza 2 is deliberate to convey the silent menace of the persona like a sneaky snake. For example, 'sunned it with smiles', 'soft deceitful wiles'.
   -The 'f' sound 'friend', 'foe', 'fear' and 'soft' are connected to the repression of the persona's anger.
3. Contrast
   -There is a contrast between how the persona treats his friend and how he treats his foe.
   -The short lines and bouncy rhythm of the poem are in stark contrast to the darker side of human nature which the poet explores.
4. Imagery
   -Stanzas 2-4: images of the tree flourishing and finally producing a fruit.
   -Stanza 4 : image of the foe sneaking into the persona's garden at night and lying under the tree, dead.
5. Irony
   -A growing tree is usually a positive thing, a symbol of life. It is ironic that a growing tree is compared to growing anger, something negative.
6. Symbolism
   -The title of the poem itself is symbolic of the darkness of human nature.
   -'apple bright' symbolises the poisonous result of suppressed anger - the result of the persona's evil scheme.
   -'my garden' symbolises the persona's territory or area of expertise.
7. Repetition
   -'And' is used nine times in stanzas 2 to 4. It is also at the beginning of lines 5,7,8,9,11,12 and 13. This is Blake's way of showing that the persona is constantly nurturing his anger.

So yeah people, hope you benefited from this! My advice would be actually buying those revision books as they comes with examples of question and the answer to it. But if you can't afford it, then there's no problem with fishing out the knowledge from the internet. I mean I did too! Okay then, bubye friends!