I told it not, my wrath did grow." In the Bible, God tells his people "...let not the sun go down upon your wrath" (Ephesians 4:26). The speaker of the poem avoids doing what he knows is right; instead, he makes his own path, which leads to evil. William Blake's use of words, along with the rhyme scheme and symbolism portray the true nature of man.

Blake immediately displays the basis of the poem in the title: A Poison Tree. In Matthew 7, God speaks of his children "bearing fruit." He says, "wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20). Man is the tree, and his actions are his "fruits". The speaker instantiously does two things wrong within the f

irst stanza: he harbors his anger, which in turn, plants the seed for a corrupt tree.

The maturing tree grows rapidly in the following stanza, "day and night". The anger is consuming the speaker until he finally concocts a plan, which bores the first fruit. Blake chooses an apple, a fleshly fruit, to portray the speaker's feelings at this time. A bright apple to be exact. Why bright? Has the speaker had an epiphany? Has he come to terms with his morality and figured out a way to appease his rage? Evidently so, because his opponent can "behold" its shine, and know that it is the speaker's.

The anger takes root in the second stanza. First, the fears and tears water the seed morning and night. Then, his deceitful smiles provide the sunlight. The rhyme scheme, again, pounds the emotions into the reader's mind: fears/tears, smiles/wiles. It is clever how Blake continues to label his anger "it" throughout the poem. It gives the reader the leeway to picture the anger as an actual image, the young tr

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tree Matthew, Poison Tree, William Blake's, Bible God, rhyme scheme, tree bringeth forth, forth evil fruit, poison tree, william blake's, evil fruit, fears tears, true nature, bringeth forth, corrupt tree, tree bringeth, told wrath,
Approximate Word count = 689
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)