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A Poison Tree Analysis Essay Example

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A Poison Tree Analysis Essay Example
Analysis of the poem “A poison tree” by William Blake

I am going to write about and analyse the poem “A poison tree” by William Blake.

The poem ”A poison tree” was written by William Blake in 1794 as a collection of poems as Songs of Experience.
“A poison tree” is about humanity´s hatred upon other people, and finally getting vengeance. Although it is a short poem, Blake clearly gives every sentence a whole meaning.

Containing only 4 stanzas and 16 lines. The rhyme scheme used is: a a b b end rhymes which means that the two first and the two last lines rhyme with each other. In this poem for example: friend, end, foe, grow.

First stanza
The poem begins abruptly with a simple line of describing his feeling for a friend. It´s normal for friends to fight each other, but sooner or later the become friends again. The second line is the main person who expresses his feelings to his friend and it seems they resolve their problem. Then in the third line, the person is angry at his foe. This could be a contrast to friend because its great difference between friends and foes. Last line tells us that he did not tell anyone about his anger and that bad feeling became worse.
To sum up this: if you feel anything strong against and/or for another person, tell somebody or the feeling will get even worse. Second stanza

“And I water´d it in fears” he speaks of his wrath like it were a plant. This is a metaphor, which is also used in the title. The speaker has made his anger grow, also he says “water´d it” like wrath were not an emotion but an object. Third and forth line describes that he tries to trick the foe in to trusting him. Wiles are clever tricks, plans intended to mislead somebody into trusting. The speaker is placing a trap for his foe, alluring him to desire something that seems appealing but is harmful. As he pretends to be pleasant to his foe, the act of being friendly increases his wrath. The smiles he sunned his “plant” with were false

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