library.SCOTCH: The Poetry of William Blake: A Poison Tree

'A Poison Tree' by William Blake

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Text

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 water'd it in fears,

Night & 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.

Links to Articles & Essays

BBC. (2017). A Poison Tree by William Blake. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/zgknv4j/revision
A Poison Tree deals with a key human emotion - anger. The poem’s content, ideas, language and structure are explored. Comparisons and alternative interpretations are also considered.
BlakeSongSettings. (2010). A Poison Tree with Commentary by Jeff Gillett. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20160418225647/http://blakesongsettings.co.uk/index.php/the-poems/81-a-poison-treen
The growth of a symbolic tree in this poem has some similarities with that in The Human Abstract. Both trees are watered by tears and fears and both trees bear fruit that is in some way deceitful.
Gallagher, P. J. (1977). The Word Made Flesh: Blake's "A Poison Tree" and the Book of Genesis. Studies in Romanticism, 16(2), 237-249.
The analysis which follows will attempt first to trace the grammatical and psychological processes by which, in "A Poison Tree," the word becomes flesh; second, to evaluate the poem's climactic "embodiment" in the light of Blakean epistemology; and third, to explore the full implications of the fact that its controlling symbol alludes to the Book of Genesis.

William Blake's 'A Poison Tree' -- performance and analysis

Gilbert, F. (2013, August 24). William Blake's 'A Poison Tree' -- performance and analysis [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VtHjz6dREY