Background Information
A Poison Tree was written and illustrated by the poet and illustrator William Blake in 1794 that was included in Songs of Experience. The initial title of the poem was Christian Forevearance. Because the poem is included in the Songs of Experience, it displays a much grimmer aspect of anger that can kill the innocent soul of a person. The poem is popular among the people of the present day because it highlights the consequences of common negative emotions (any Akuma flying nearby? 😁)
Development of Situation
The poem opens on the speaker, sharing his anger with the person (his friend) he is angry with and resultantly, the anger or negative emotions go away. But when the speaker becomes angry with his enemy, he does not disclose his anger with his foe. Thus, his rage continues to grow that he develops through fears and tears.
Consequently, his nourished anger turns into a tree that bears a shiny fruit. The enemy of the poet stealthy enters into his garden and picks up the glittering fruit in the darkness of night. The enemy eats the fruit of negative emotions and lies "outstretched beneath the tree".
Themes
There is only one theme or hidden message of the poem that is expression and suppression of anger. The poem maintains the fact that compression of anger leads to violence. Expression of anger in less corrosive ways can minimize its devastating effects. The addressor of the poem emphasizes on the frankness that ultimately leads to the disappearance of anger.
Now, the question arises, is suppression of anger and the poison tree coming out of it are morally good? Absolutely not! Although the poet does not explicitly deems it immoral in the text. But the title of the poem directly informs us about the poisonous injustice.
Allegorical Significance
Before highlighting the allegorical significance of the poem. First, we have to determine what actually makes a person an enemy. An enemy is a person who tries to suppress a person or even attempts to kill him. The poem is considered to be a direct allegorical allusion to the hatred of the French Revolution by English Writers. The revolution was brought after suppressed anger of the working class against the hostility of the aristocratic class. The result was fierce and the fruit of the poisonous tree was red in the blood of the aristocracy as well as the ones who were wrongly and unjustly condemned by the "Republic". Thus, the vengeance of the speaker of the poem is directly an allegorical parallel to the vengeance of the revolutionaries.
Literary Devices
A Poison Tree carries a striking use of literary devices that add to the charm as well as the meaning of the poem. The first one is Antithesis. Antithesis is a literary device that presents two contrasting ideas juxtaposed in one section. Here in this poem, Blake has juxtaposed the disappearance and development of his anger with his friend and foe simultaneously.
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.
The second literary device that seems in works in this poem is allusion. An allusion is a literary device that, well, alludes to a story from history, religion and mythology. In this verse, Blake alludes to the apple of knowledge in Eden and the Fall of Mankind. The poem also withholds symbolic meaning. Here, the tree is the symbol of negative emotions while the garden is the heart that stores and nourishes these emotions. While bearing of the "apple bright" is an implied metaphor that means the poet's ill feelings.
Setting and Imagery
The poem takes place in a garden in which the poison tree is situated. The images used in this poem are morbid. The imaginative picture gallery in this poem may include "watered it in fears", "sunned it with smiles", " grew both day and night", "bright apple", and "foe outstretched beneath the tree". The images of this poem put a horrifying effect on a reader.
Structural Analysis
A Poison Tree is composed of sixteen lines. While the poem is beautifully divided into four quatrains. Each quatrain contains four lines. The rhyme scheme of this poem is AA BB that is repeated in every stanza, thus forming eight heroic couplets. The rhythmic pattern of this poem is trochaic tetrameter.
Conclusion
Blake subtly transitions this poem into a semi-didactic lesson of the cathartic release of anger. He favours the extinction of anger within a person's mind rather than its emission.
