Poem A Poison Tree (William Blake) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

Poem A Poison Tree (William Blake) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

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Poem:

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered 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 veil's the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.

William Blake:

William Blake was born in 1757 and died in 1827. He was an artist in addition to being a poet. In fact he became a book engraver and illustrated his poetry with original and exquisite etchings and drawings. His famous works include Songs of Innocence, 1789; and Songs of Experience, 1794. His notable engravings include illustrations of the Book of Job; Dante's Divine Comedy and Gray's poems.

Idea of the Poem:

The poem is built up on several contrasts; friend; for, love; hate; trust; deceit. The Poet talks of the nourishment of hatred. The process of nourishment is one that demands love and care--here it is used for a destructive purpose. Hatred is the outcome of a lack of trust: friends can forget and forgive, but enemies nurse their grudges, taking perverse pleasure in destroying each other. The use of the word "Apple" is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden and the idea of temptation. Eve succumbed to the luscious looking fruit of the Tree of Life and the wiles of Satan; So over here the enemy is tempted by "the apple bright:"

 

The act of stealth is committed at night--the time of darkness associated with evil: "tis now the witching time of night: [Shakespeare]". In the last line there is a sense of relief, almost triumph-hatred has won.

The language is simple: the meaning it conveys is profound. The implicit meaning is an important as the obvious one. The post leaves the reader to make his own subtle conclusions.

Introduction

It is a short and impressive poem that gives us a lesson. Friends can forgive and forget but enemies nurse their enmity and grudges. Enemies take a negative pleasure in cheating and destroying each-other. The poet tells us the result of the nourishment of hatred here which is nothing other than destruction and death.

Summary

The narrator was angry with his friend but he told about his anger to him. As a result, the anger was spent up and good-will prevailed between both of them. But one day he was angry with his enemy and he did not tell his enemy about his anger. As a result, the anger went on growing more and more.

 

The narrator gave this growing plant of hatred the water of his tears and was afraid of that. He met his enemy with a smiling face and cheated him into believing that there was nothing wrong between them.

In this way the hatred went on growing day and night. The plant (of hatred) became a tall tree and it bore an apple that was of bright color. The enemy saw the beautiful apple shine in the day light. He knew that, it belonged to the narrator. When the night covered everything in darkness, he came into the garden of the narrator stealthily. He plucked the apple and ate it. As the apple was fully poisonous, he died. In the morning the narrator was pleased to see his enemy lying dead under the tree of hatred.

Important Questions

Questions No 1. Bring out the symbolism of the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake.

Ans. The poem " A Poison Tree" by William Blake is a symbolic poem. The very topic is symbolic. It is the symbol of mutual hate, anger, deceit, cunningness, cleverness, hypocrisy and such other negative values of human society. It reminds us of the "forbidden tree" of the Garden of Eden in the Paradise.

This poisonous tree is beautiful to look at and grows sweet-colored fruit which is totally poisonous from inside. Hate, fear, deceit and anger grow it as water grows a plant. There is the sunny fake smile also to give it warmth and ripeness.

The enemy is unaware of all these advancements as there is lack of communication and understanding between the two, i.e., the enemy and the "apple-tree-owner". The enemy is, after all, an enemy. So when the tree bears a good-looking apple, he steals into the garden under the cover of dark night and eats that apple with relish. As a result, he dies.

Hatred/Enmity and particularly hidden one, easily kills the opponent. All this has been beautifully brought out for the readers with the help of perfectly used symbols. The poem is highly symbolic like many other poems of William Blake, such as "The Little Girl Found" and "The Echoing Green".

Questions No 2. Bring out the beauties of Blake's "A Poison Tree". Or Write Critical Appreciations of the poem.

Ans. " A Poison Tree" is a sweet lyric by William Blake who is famous as a mystic poet in English literature. Most of his poems have two meanings, one, the clear or the outward; two, the hidden or the inward. This poem also gives us a food for thought. The poet has presented the items of love and hated, trust and deceit, friendship and enmity, for our consideration. He wishes to promote good-will, confidence, love and friendship among people.

The poem has a deep concern with human life and destiny. It presents a philosophic but symbolic representation of hatred. The poet tells us that he was once angry with his friend. He told about his anger to the friend and forgave him as there was a mutual understanding between them. But once he was angry with his enemy and did not tell him about that. There was a lack of trust between both of them, so the question of forgiveness did not arise. The hatred went on growing in the form of a plant. One day a beautiful but poisonous apple appeared at that. The enemy stole it at night, ate it and died and the poet was pleased to find him lying dead the next morning.

The poet had told us about a very valuable subject in the poem - the universal problem of hate and love, trust and mistrust, enmity and friendship. He has used a sweet practical imagery for expressing his deep ideas. The plant, water, tree, the bright apple - all are there painted sweetly. He has used all these as symbols. The plant of hatred and anger gets nourishment through tears of fear and smiles of deceit. This plant grows day and night as it is watered morning and evening and sunned with cheating tricks. The fruit of this cunning hate appears in the form of apple which is bright and beautiful outwardly and poisonous from inside. The enemy steals it at night, eats is and dies as a result, Thus the poet is free from his enemy. He has depicted all the various stages of anger, hatred, mistrust and cunningness in a very skillful manner. The imagery and symbolism of the poem are perfect.

All through the poem the tool of simile is used with skill. Words are full of emotions and sentiments. Almost every other word gives us a comparison between two things. The poem has been composed in iambic pentameter with here and there rhythmic variations plus an additional foot or syllable at one or two places. There are four regular stanzas with four lines each. The rhyme scheme is a a b b, that is, the rhyme royal or that of heroic couplet. Most of the words are monosyllabic as in lines no. 2, 4, 9.

The language of the poem is quite simple and straightforward and the meanings very profound and deep. The hidden meanings are as important as the obvious one. The poet leaves on us the work of finding out the implicit meanings that love makes and hatred kills. The "apple" makes us remember the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden in Paradise as the Christians believe it to be apple. [We Muslims believe that it was the plant of wheat. Only Allah knows the reality! ] The words "soft deceitful wiles" make us remember the wiles of Satan who deceived our forefathers, Prophet Adam and Eve (Blessings of Allah be on them both!) into eating the forbidden fruit.

The rhythm of the poem is well-suited to the clear-cut subject. The style of the writing is rather epigrammatic like that of famous classical Greek and Romans poets. Almost all the lines are end-stopped. The vocabulary is chosen and symbolic.

Question No 3. Pick out all the words related to hate and anger.

Ans. These are the words related to hate and anger.

angry (line 1), wrath (line 2)[used twice in the line], foe (line 3), wrath (line 4), fears (line 5), tears (line 6), deceitful (line 8), wiles (line 8), foe (line 11), stole (line 13), veil'd (line 14). foe (line 16), outstretched (line 16).

Question No 4. How appropriate is the title of the poem?

Ans.  The title of the poem is perfectly appropriate. Hatred and mistrust are really very poisonous and grow secretly but very fastly enough as the tree in the poem. Such a tree bears fruit which is very misleading to look at. It is bright colored fruit. But inside that fruit it is all poison.

Question No 5. Can you describe briefly an experience arousing intense hatred?

Ans. All praises be to Allah who has made me a Muslim. A Muslim never hates anyone. As a Muslim, I hate the evil and wicked habits/routines adopted by somebody but I do not hate that fellow. A true Muslim should hate the wickedness of the wicked person but not the wicked person himself. As I try to act (May Allah help me!) as a true Muslim, so I try not to hate any person. I remember to forgive whenever there arises a matter of hatred around me. I never keep hatred in my heart, thanks to Allah!

Question No 6. What words or images would you use for expressing anger and/ or hatred?

Ans. Words like "anger", "wicked", "evil", "darkness". "snake", "clever". may be used for expressing anger and/or hatred.

Reference:

These lines have been taken from the poem “A Poison Tree” written by William Blake.

Context:

In this poem the poet says that hatred is like a poisonous tree. If anger and scorn are not expressed, they keep on growing. The poet expressed his anger to his friend, it disappeared. He did not express his anger to his enemy it grew into a poisonous tree., The poisonous tree killed his enemy No doubt, hatred which is the outcome of lack of trust can harm, a rival but cultivating hatred in itself is not an admirable thing. The use of the Word “Apple” is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden and the idea of temptation.

Explanation:

Stanza: 1

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

In these lines the poet says that once he got angry with his friend. He expressed his anger to his friend and it came to an end. In the same way, he became angry with his enemy but he did not disclose his anger to him. As a result, anger of the poet went on increasing. This is but natural if a person gives vent to his emotions, he feels relaxed. If he does not disclose his anger or other emotions, they keep on growing which is not a good sign.

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.

The poet says when he did not disclose his anger to his enemy; it went on increasing and become a plant. He developed a sort of fear. He Watered his plant with fright twice daily, i.e., in the morning? and in the evening. This water came from his eyes in the, form of tears out of anger and guiles. Both water and sun are necessary for the growth of tree. Water and sun helped him in growing his tree of wrath.

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,

In these lines the poet tells u that as a result of his taking care of the tree it grew day and night very rapidly. One day it brought an attractive fruit in the form of an apple. His enemy observed that the fruit was shining and beautiful. He wanted to have it cunningly.

Stanza: 4

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil's the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.

In the given lines, the poet expresses the out-come of the efforts made by him. He says since his enemy wanted to pluck the fruit of the tree cultivated by him, he entered his garden very secretly. It was night time and darkness had covered the poles or the whole universe. The enemy touched the apple and died at the spot in making efforts to pluck the fruit because it was poisonous from inside. In the morning the poet was very glad when he found that his enemy lying dead straight, under the tree, He was very cunningly deceived by his trick. The gist of the poem is that developing anger and hatred in itself are dangerous and harmful. One may injure one's opponents by one's anger and scorn but developing them is not admirable.