A Poison Tree
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 waterd 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 outstretchd beneath the tree.
Literary Analysis
This literary analysis was generated with AI and may contain interpretive differences. Provide your analysis in the comments section.
Summary
William Blake presents a small but unsettling story of anger that is either released or carefully concealed. The poem begins with a clear contrast: when the speaker is angry with a friend, speaking honestly brings the feeling to an end; when the anger is directed toward an enemy, silence allows it to take root. From there, the emotion is treated like a living thing that is fed, coaxed, and hidden until it produces a deadly result.
The poem moves from private feeling to outward action, and the shift is what gives it its power. The speaker becomes both gardener and poisoner, nurturing resentment with fear, tears, smiles, and deception until the anger appears in the bright form of an apple. That final image is tempting, even beautiful, which makes the ending more disturbing: the foe is drawn in by what looks attractive, and the speaker's "glad" morning reveals the human cost of festering hostility. The poem leaves readers balancing two possibilities at once: the enemy's downfall may be the speaker's revenge, but it is also the visible consequence of cultivating hatred instead of confronting it.
Form Breakdown
Theme
- Repressed anger - The poem shows how anger grows more dangerous when it is withheld rather than addressed openly, turning private resentment into something destructive.
- Deception - Smiles and "soft" wiles disguise the speaker's hostility, suggesting that outward civility can hide harmful intentions.
- Consequences of resentment - Blake links unresolved emotion to real-world damage, making anger feel like a force that eventually harms both victim and source.
- Temptation and false appearance - The bright apple looks appealing, but its beauty conceals danger, showing how attractive surfaces can mask poison.
- Victim and aggressor blurred together - The speaker seems to control the outcome, yet the poem also shows how obsession with revenge traps the person nursing it.
- Growth of evil - By describing anger as something that is planted, watered, and grown, the poem suggests that wrongdoing develops gradually rather than appearing all at once.
Literary Devices
- Extended metaphor - Anger is developed as a plant that is watered, sunned, and allowed to bear fruit, giving an emotional process a vivid physical shape.
- Personification - Wrath behaves like a living thing that can grow and produce an apple, emphasizing how emotions can seem to take on their own will.
- Symbolism - The garden, tree, and apple all point beyond themselves to the cultivation of hidden hatred and the lure of destructive desire.
- Repetition - The repeated focus on anger and growth reinforces the obsessive, circular quality of resentment.
- Contrast - Blake contrasts friend and foe, telling and withholding, daylight and night, to highlight the moral difference between honest release and secret retaliation.
- Irony - The bright apple appears inviting, but it leads to death, creating a bitter gap between appearance and reality.
- Alliteration - Soft sound patterns, such as in the phrase "soft deceitful wiles," help the line feel smooth and sly, matching the speaker's hidden intent.
Symbolism
- The apple - A symbol of temptation, hidden poison, and the outward beauty of something destructive.
- The garden - A symbol of the speaker's inner life, carefully tended yet corrupted by anger.
- The tree - A symbol of resentment brought to full growth, bearing the fruit of the speaker's emotional care.
- Night - A symbol of secrecy and moral concealment, the time when hidden intentions can do their work.
- Tears - A symbol of fear, pain, and emotional feeding of resentment rather than its release.
- Smiles - A symbol of false friendliness and the masking of hostility.
Tone
Blake's tone is terse, controlled, and sharply ironic, as if he is calmly presenting a moral fable while exposing something deeply unsettling. The mood for the reader is dark and uneasy, with a growing sense of dread that turns the bright apple and the "glad" ending into something chilling rather than satisfying.
Historical Context
William Blake wrote during the Romantic era, when poets often focused on intense feeling, the imagination, and the inner life of the individual. His work frequently challenges simple moral categories and uses compact, symbolic images to explore spiritual and psychological conflict. This poem fits that tradition by turning an ordinary emotional experience into a miniature allegory about the dangers of unchecked feeling.
Blake also often questioned social appearances and the gap between outer behavior and inner truth. The poem reflects that broader concern by showing how civility can become a mask for resentment. Its plain language and nursery-like simplicity sharpen the moral force of the poem rather than softening it, which is characteristic of Blake's ability to make unsettling ideas feel memorable and direct.
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