A POISON TREE

I was angry with my friend

I told my wrath did end

I was angry with my foe

I told it not, my wrath did grow

And I wateres 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

The Poet

           William Blake (1757-1827) was a romantic poet.He was a romantic poet.He was a visionary and also was a lover of nature.This poem has been taken from his collection of poems titled "Songs of experience" published in 1794.

Content

          Through this poem, the poet sums up the results of both expressing and repressing anger.He conveys this message in the form of a little story.

                       This speaker once gets angry with his friend and finishes his anger through expression.

                       "I was angry with my friend

                       I told my wrath, my wrath did end"

                             on another occasion he gets angry with his enemy , but he fils to express his anger.he hides anger,nurses it in his heart until it grows up like a poison tree which in the end destroys the enemy.

                         "I was angry with my foe

                          I told it not, my wrath did grow"

                  

                                 Fostering anger has been compared to the planting of a seed and growing it.water and sunshine are the main requisites needed for the growth of a tree.Here, tears provide water.the speaker's smiles are the sunlight.

       

                             "I watered it in fears

                             Night and morning with my tears

                             And sunned it with my smiles"

Theme

          Bad effects of harbouring anger-how anger when not expressed grows and leads to the idea of revenge and how it pollutes a man's mind.

Rhyme pattern 

                       Simple rhyme pattern-rhyming couplets.

                            

                                   Rhyming Words

                                     friend-end

                                     foe-grow

                                     fears-tears

                                     smiles-wiles

                                     night-bright

                                     shine-mine

                                     stole-pole

                                     see-tree

                   

Techniques

                 Simple diction

                          alliteration

                          Metaphor - a tree