Скачать или смотреть 'A Poison Tree' by William Blake - Analysis for Edexcel Eng Lit GCSE Conflict Anthology

Summary of Key Points
Context
Blake was a C18th artist as well as poet and he combined these talents to publish 'illuminated books'. Song of Innocence and Songs of Experience are his two best known collections with 'A Poison Tree' published in the latter. This work presents people as cynical and exploitative, especially of children. An early Romantic, Blake was interested in social justice and against the negative effects of the industrial revolution. He despised the Church of England, with its unnatural demands, but revered the Bible and his writing is heavily influenced by this. We see this in 'A Poison Tree'.
Structure
The poem is written in four quatrains of rhyming couplets. The line are end stopped which foregrounds the rhyme. This combined with a strong rhythm give the poem the quality of a child's song or nursery rhyme. Much of Blake's early work expresses dark, challenging ideas in this simple way.
There are two alternating rhyme schemes within the poem - perhaps suggesting the two sides of the conflict it explores. Lines of trochaic trimeter alternate with longer lines of iambic tetrameter.
The sequence of ideas is straightforward: the speaker represses the anger he feels for his foe and it subsequently grows. This is expressed through the metaphor of the poison tree which bears fruit. The speaker's foe eats this 'apple bright' and dies. He's found stretched out beneath the poison tree.
Point of View
First person narrative - the speaker is sharing his experience for our benefit. There are lessons to be learned - although we must infer them.
Imagery
1st quatrain - by repressing anger, 'wrath', it grows inside the speaker. When it was expressed, on the other hand, it dissipated. So there is nothing wrong with anger - only how it is managed. The simple sentences and punctuation seem to reinforce this logic.
2nd stanza - introduces the central metaphor of the poison tree. Not expressing anger is like nurturing a deadly tree. It is 'water'd' and 'suuned' within the heart of the speaker - both day and night, which suggests that this destructive emotion has become an all-consuming passion.
'deceitful wiles' emphasizes the secrecy of the speaker as he harbors his grudge. The hissing sibilance in the stanza adds to its menacing tone.
3rd Stanza - 'both day and night' is repeated. Fed constantly, the poison tree bears fruit - an 'apple bright' symbolizes burning hatred.
Blake is here evoking the Book of Genesis. Both the foe and Eve perish by giving in to temptation with death and sin the result.
'And' is repeated, adding to the child-like style of the poem but also creating a relentless pace as the narrative unfolds.
The night is presonified - it 'veil'd the pole'. Pole means star, so the night worked to increase the blackness of the scene and the sense of dread.
4th stanza: The final rhyming couplet shifts into the present tense and we are left with the image of the foe stretched out dead- nothing is resolved. The speaker is 'glad' - suggesting his utter corruption as a soul twisted by repressed anger.
Themes
Anger becomes a destructive emotion when not expressed. It is corrupt and corrupting.
'Smiles' are just a cover - authentic emotion is sacrificed when an obsession takes over.
Lies and deceit another theme - the foe steals and the speaker secretly nurtures his anger.
'Wrath' describes God's anger in the Bible. Blake's poem is a kind of parable - we have to infer its symbolism but it is certainly didactic and seems to be teaching us that if we fail to communicate openly and if we lie, only violence and destruction can result.