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 watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my 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 outstretched beneath the tree
A POISON TREE
Author: William Blake
Title of work: songs of experience
Subtitle: A Poison Tree
Editorial: Pre-textos
Year of publication: 2001
Place of publication: Valencia (Spain)
Analysis
The subject of this poem could be the author’s growing wrath against the enemy.
Respect to the theme, we find some main ideas. The author describes how his anger disappears against a friend. In the other hand, the poet shows how wrath magnifies his power more and more against an enemy every day, until it becomes excessive and dangerous.
This poem is not ambiguous in meaning at all, although Blake uses some images and metaphors, the poem is easy to understand. So this poem is very straightforward because it results very plain. Moreover, the theme is well-known for us : wrath. Everybody has sometimes felt anger so, we can understand better poet’s feelings and interpret them.
Respect to the viewpoint, we say the poem is about a person, we guess it is autobiographical probably, because the author talks in the first person of singular;
We find lots of examples: in the first line “I was angry with my friend” or in the second line “I told my wrath”. Moreover, the man in the poem uses the possessive “my” so many times.
It seems like Blake is telling to the reader a personal past experience, because he gives details about feelings.
Referring to the tone and mood, we will say it is not a humorous poem, the author is relating a personal story about wrath, but Blake uses a sarcastic tone even a touch of cruelty, because at the end of this poem, the poet seems to be glad because of his enemy’s death : the two last lines are a clear example of that: “ In the morning glad I see/ My foe outstretched beneath the tree”.
There are some interesting details, for example the reality of this poem. Reading this poem, we feel reflected in it because his feelings are very daily. Blake describes the rage’s progress perfectly; it begins as a little rage, but little by little it becomes a quiet wrath and quiet hatred against the enemy. Finally this content anger explodes with a no bound power.
The structure of the poem is very simple; the poem consist in four verses, each verse has four lines and each line is made up of seven syllables; the rhyme of this poem is a,a// b, b; for example: ( first verse) “friend/end,foe/grow” or ( second verse) “fears/tears,smiles/wiles”. Respect to rhythm, we will say it is harmonious and repetitive; par lines have an ascending rhythm, and odd lines have a descending rhythm.
The most important image in this poem is “the apple” as a representation of range or wrath. The author treats the apple like something inside his person. He learns to live with it whenever, with joy and with sorrow. The author uses this appropriate metaphor because “the sin” has always been represented as an “apple” from the biblical story of Adam and Eva. Also, the symbol of the apple is treated as a person or as an animate thing because it receives cares; for example: (line five) “I watered it in fears” or (line seven and eight) “I sunned it with smiles/and with soft deceitful wiles”. So, Blake uses stylistic resource called personification. There are so many contrast in the poem, for example, Blake confront the day and night, the light and darkness and the joy and deceit continuously (line 6&7&8) “and I watered it in fears/night and morning with my tears/and I sunned it with smiles/ and with soft deceitful wiles”. This contrast is used to reflect the instability produced by anger. Otherwise, the poem has no more difficulties because the vocabulary is very accessible.
Personal response
Blake’s poem follows the same line as all his poems, because it has an easy meaning, a simple structure and form, an accessible vocabulary and a well-known theme by everybody. The author represents wrath as a common thing, which is living inside us. Although anger is a normal thing, it causes lot of pain and sorrow and when this rage explodes against our enemies, we sometimes feel clear and happy ( lines 15&16) “In the morning glad I see/ my foe outstretched beneath the tree”.