help me analyze the poem "a poison tree" by william blake?

Question

"A Poison Tree" by William Blake

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 water'd it in fears,
Night & 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 veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree

what exactly does he mean by "till it bore an apple bright / and my foe beheld it shine" (please translate)
also, what does "And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole" mean?

i also need help analyzing and interpreting the theme...
what is the poem saying about humanity? what does the poet want you to take away from the poem?

i do get the basic idea of the poem and i really like it.

thank you!

wow thank you so much for the answers so far. they helped a lot!

Answer 1

I love this poem and it often comes to mind. Just think, if you have a row with somebody who is close to you and with whom you are on terms of trust and confidence, you make it up very quickly, talking things over frankly and feeling even closer than before. But when you have a row with someone more distant, you find that the whole thing rankles and they can't do anything right in your eyes. You dislike them more and more and inside yourself you are nurturing something very nasty and destructive. You devote your care and attention to this thing, brooding over it, and it becomes more and more deep rooted inside you: you warm it with your cunning and your deceiful smiles (which disguise the true state of affairs) and you water it with your tears. Finally the tree which you have tended for so long matures and bears fruit. The fruit here takes the mind of the reader back to the Garden of Eden and to the luscious fruit which Eve found so irresistible. You mean harm to your foe, just as the serpent did to Adam and Eve. You realise how beautiful and desirable this fruit looks to him and you know that he won't be able to resist it, he'll just have to have it. Overcome with the urge to acquire this gorgeous fruit he steals into your orchard at dead of night, ('when the night had veil'd the pole' is a poetic way of describing the canopy of darkness) and hetakes and eats the fruit. You rejoice to see him dead the next day.
The tree and the fruit are a metaphor for the deadly schemes which the human heart is capable of devising when motivated by hatred and malice. You may not actually poison your enemy, but you can, with thought and planning, come up with a scheme which will destroy him in some way.

That's what the poem means to me!

Answer 2

I think i could help you with "A Poison Tree". The main jist of the poem is that Blake's "wrath" towards his enemey is synonomous with the Poison Tree. He cultivates, develops, & nurtures his hate. It starts as a seed and he makes it grow into a tree, but because it's hate that made it grow it's poisonous. So his "enemey" comes in the garden, sees the tree, and wants a part of it just because it's Blake's. So he takes a part of it, and it kill's him, which pleases Blake. Kindof is similar to Adam & Eve story.

So line for line:

(1-2) He was angry with his friend, but he told his friend his problems and that took care of them. Next (3-4) he becomes angry with his "foe". But instead of telling him his problems he holds them in and lets them grow. Here is where the metaphorical seed is planted. Then he waters his anger in fear (as you would water a tree to make it grow) with tears (5-6). Then (7-8) he suns it (anger/hate) with smiles and deceitful wiles, (as a tree needs sun to grow). Next
(9-10), he mentions how the tree has grown and bore fruit (matured). And (11-12) his friend sees how lovely it looks and is jeoulous of it. So (13-14) at night he goes into the garden and steals the fruit, and Blake (15-16) finds him in the morning "outstretched beneath the tree". Presumably dead. Killed by his own jeoulousy.

I don't know if that helps, but I sure hope so!

Answer 3

His wrath (= anger) grew so much that it bore (like a tree, it produced) a bright apple and his foe (= enemy) beheld it shine (looked at it shining).
And into my garden stole: and he came furtively into my garden,
When the night had veil'd the pole: when the night was very dark.
I hope I have not translated things you already knew! I am sorry if I did.

Good commentary (it seems) there:

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/blake.htm


Edit: it's clearly a reference to the Garden of Eden.

Answer 4

In the notebooks this poem is titled Christian Forbearance: it is Blake's observation of how Christians use their forgiveness to hurt people. The idea that it can be healthy to show one's dislike of someone, but dangerous to suppress it (expressed in the first verse) takes a lot of people by surprise. But the test of a strong relationship is how it lets you talk to your partner about the things you don't like about them. People who are looking for comfort don't like this poem. What it says is not comforting. People who are looking for the truth tend to like it a lot.

Answer 5

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