Poem 1-A Poison Tree (Conflict Poetry)

THEME-
Anger-How we deal with angry is extremely important
EVIDENCE/QUOTES-
‘I was angry with my friend/I told my wrath, my wrath did not end’
‘I was angry with my foe/I told it not, my wrath did grow’
ANALYSIS-
The first stanza deals with two different ways of dealing with anger and the two different outcomes that may occur as a result.

THEME-
Deception-The speaker bottles things up and does not say anything and his friend sneaks into his garden to steal the fruit
EVIDENCE/QUOTES-
‘And he knew it was mine/and into my garden stole’
ANALYSIS-
-Stole reminds the reader that it was an act of theft and dis ways them from the enemy ‘Sneaking’ into the garden.

THEME-
Communication-The poet creates a moral of the disastrous consequence of lack of communication to another or himself
EVIDENCE/QUOTES-
‘I told my wrath, I told it not’
ANALYSIS-
The use of antithesis shows the opposites how simple it is to talk about an issue and how easy it is to not tell/communicate with people

-By not telling us anything about the two people involved, Blake shows that this is an emotion that can affect anyone.

-He uses a simple but effective image of a tree growing in a garden.

-The poem’s uncomplicated structure suggests something basic is being examined

INTERPRETATION-
The apple represents the anger growing large and ripening.

REASON FOR THIS-
The apple has been chosen to represent anger as apples are a well known fruit and anger is a main emotion, they also start with the same letter.

INTERPRETATION-
The apple refers to the biblical story the garden of Eden.
REASON FOR THIS-
References the story as this is one of most well known biblical stories, it may show that a serpent is tempting his enemy.

It is written in quatrains

Uses ‘Rhyming couplets’ in the pattern ‘AABB’

-The lines in the first stanza all start with ‘i’ which shiws that it is a personal experience.

-12 lines after that start with ‘And’ which helps the story/poem to intensify and buildup in tension.

-REASONS-
-this story looks like it should of been written fr a child as there is a moral to the story and the use of and shows that a child should of wrote it.

-Autobiographical
-sentence breaks which carry onto the next line
-There’s a moral to the story
-About core human failings
-Extended metaphor about plant life

-Was born in 1757
-Was an engraver
-Released a set of poems called ‘songs of innocence’
-He was a deeply religious man
– Wasn’t really well regarded in his time but now he is classed as a major poetic writer

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 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’d the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.