This A Poison Tree summary starts with a simple lesson about anger. In William Blake’s poem, the speaker tells his friend that he is angry, and the anger ends. He hides his anger from his enemy, and it grows. He feeds it with fears, tears, false smiles and tricks until it becomes a tree bearing a shining apple. His enemy steals the apple at night, and in the morning the speaker finds him dead under the tree. Read the full text of A Poison Tree on Poetry Catalog.
A Poison Tree Summary
Stanza 1. The speaker compares two situations. “I was angry with my friend: / I told my wrath, my wrath did end.” But with his foe, “I told it not, my wrath did grow.”
Stanza 2. He looks after his hidden anger like a gardener. He waters it “in fears” and with his tears, night and morning. He “sunnèd it with smiles” and “with soft deceitful wiles,” pretending to be friendly.
Stanza 3. The anger grows day and night until it bears “an apple bright.” His foe sees the apple shining and knows it belongs to the speaker.
Stanza 4. The foe creeps into the speaker’s garden at night to steal it. In the morning the speaker is “glad” to see “My foe outstretched beneath the tree.” The apple was poisoned, and the enemy is dead.
Key Facts
- Poet: William Blake (1757–1827)
- Published: 1794, in Songs of Experience
- Earlier title: Christian Forbearance, in Blake’s notebook draft
- Form: four quatrains in rhyming couplets
- Speaker: a person who nurses a secret grudge
- Tone: calm, simple, chilling by the end
Themes
Repressed anger. The poem’s central idea is that anger spoken openly fades, while anger hidden away grows and becomes deadly. It is a psychological insight expressed as a fable.
Deceit. The speaker smiles at his enemy while feeding his hatred. The “soft deceitful wiles” show how false politeness can hide real malice.
Temptation and the Fall. A tree, a forbidden apple, a garden and a death: the poem echoes the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. Here, though, it is a human who plants the tempting fruit.
Moral corruption. The most disturbing line is the last. The speaker is “glad” his enemy is dead. Hidden anger has destroyed not only the foe but the speaker’s own goodness.
Key Lines Explained
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
The opening sets up the lesson. Honesty with a friend clears the air. The repetition of “my wrath” makes the cause and effect sound like a rule.
And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
The anger becomes a plant that needs care. Fear and self-pity are the water that keeps it alive. The gardening image runs through the rest of the poem.
And I sunnèd it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.
Smiles usually mean warmth. Here they are sunlight for a poisonous plant. The accent on “sunnèd” tells the reader to pronounce it as two syllables.
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
The anger finally produces something attractive. The bright apple stands for the trap the speaker has set, something tempting that hides poison.
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
The switch to the present tense, “I see,” puts the reader at the scene. The word “glad” is the poem’s shock: the speaker feels no guilt.
Form, Meter and Rhyme
A Poison Tree has four quatrains made of rhyming couplets, AABB: “friend” and “end,” “foe” and “grow,” “fears” and “tears.” Most lines have seven syllables and four stresses, falling into a trochaic rhythm, stressed then unstressed, which gives the poem the bounce of a nursery rhyme or a hymn.
That simple music is part of the effect. The poem sounds like a children’s song, yet it describes revenge and murder. Blake uses the same contrast between light form and dark content throughout Songs of Experience.
FAQ
What is the main message of A Poison Tree?
That anger which is hidden and nursed grows into something deadly, while anger that is spoken openly can be resolved.
What does the apple symbolize in A Poison Tree?
The fruit of the speaker’s anger: a tempting trap that destroys the enemy. It also recalls the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
Why is the speaker glad at the end?
Because his long-nursed anger has achieved its goal. His gladness shows how hatred has corrupted him.
What was A Poison Tree originally called?
In Blake’s notebook draft the poem was titled Christian Forbearance, an ironic title for a poem about revenge.
Is A Poison Tree from Songs of Innocence or Experience?
Songs of Experience, published in 1794.