a Poison Tree

a Poison Tree
A Note to Remember

The Meaning of the Poem

LINE STANZA 1 LINE-BY-LINE MEANING MEANING BY STANZA
1 I was angry with my friend I was angry with my friend I had a misunderstanding with my friend and was angry.
2 I told my wrath, my wrath did end I told my wrath (anger) to my friend and I got over my anger I told my friend about my wrath. I got over my anger and
forgot it. But when I got angry with my foe, I did not tell
3 I was angry with my foe I was angry with my enemy him about it. So, it grew bigger and bigger like a plant.
4 I told it not, my wrath did grow I did not tell my anger to my enemy, so my anger grew

STANZA 2 I treated my anger like a plant. A plant needs water and sunshine. My anger grew like a tree. I nourished my anger tree
1 and I watered it in fears Likewise, every day I nourished my wrath with water in the form of fears with anger suspicion and hatred. I was suspicious of my
2 night and morning with tears and tears foe and I was and I was angry with him. But I tricked him
to bring him closer to me. Outwardly, I smiled and I was
3 and I sunned it with smiles I also gave my anger-tree sunshine in the form of smiles and cunning friendly to gain trust.
4 And soft deceitful wiles tricks

STANZA 3 My tree of anger grew steadily every day until it produced an apple. My ‘tree’ was poisonous because it was full of anger,
1 and it grew both day and night Outwardly, it was shiny but poisonous hatred and suspicion. Later I bore a shiny poison apple.
My foe saw it and he knew it was mine.
2 till it bore an apple bright My enemy saw the shiny apple and he knew it was mine

3 and my foe beheld it shine One night, when darkness hid the pole of star, my enemy crept into my One night, when there were no stars, my foe came into
4 and he knew it was mine garden. He stole my apple. (pole = pole star/north star. It bright and stay my garden and stole my poison apple. He fell into my
fixed in the sky) trap. He ate the apple and died. In the morning I was
STANZA 4 In the morning I was happy to see my enemy lying dead under the tree happy to see him lying under my poison tree.
1 And into my garden stole
2 When the night had veiled the pole

3 In the morning glad I see
4 My foe outstretch beneath the tree

Meaning of the Words

NO WORD MEANING NO WORD MEANING
1 Wrath Extreme anger 6 Bore (Past tense of bear ) / produced fruit
2 Foe Enemy/rival 7 Bright Shining/ attractive
3 Watered poured water on plants 8 Beheld Look/see
4 Sunned provided sunshine 9 Veiled A concealing cover/ covered with something to
hide something partly or completely
5 Deceitful dishonest behaviour to make people 11 Pole Pole star/ north star
believe things which are not true
6 Wiles Cunning/clever tricks a person uses to 12 Outstretch Stretch out/ extend/ spread out
get what he wants

Literary Devices

LITERARY DEVICES ITEM
1 Point of View the poem use the First Person of View (I, my, mine)
2 Tone and mood serious & perceptive, sombre mood, unsympathetic & intense
3 Imagery Stanza 2 give a good image of a tree being well taken care of
4 Symbolism the tree is a symbol of life and anger seems to have been given life to grow
5 Personification the night has veiled the pole’ = night has been personified as a person putting a veil or cover on the pole or
light
6 Metaphor growing apple tree starts bearing fruit is an extended metaphor for growing anger
7 Irony it is ironical that anger is a tree albeit a poison tree; a negative thing growing into a positive thing
8 Simile sunned with smiles and soft deceitful wiles’ means the smiles and wiles are light from the sunlight
9 Repetition wrath is repeated to emphasized the anger is poisonous
10 Contrast ‘and with soft deceitful wiles’ = contrast in the personal approach;
soft = semblance sincerity but contrasts strongly with ‘deceitful wiles’ or deceiving or cunning way

Literal & Figurative Meaning

STANZA 1 LITERAL MEANING FIGURATIVE MEANING
 The persona was angry with his friend. He dealt his angry  In life our relationships with others are normally based on two groups of
STANZA 2
STANZA 3 feelings and his anger melted away. people:
STANZA 4  He was angry with his enemy and did not sort it out with the i. Friends – those we can get along with
ii. Rivals – those who are hostile us
latter. He became wrathful  Disagreements among friends are never long-lasting because good feelings,

 The persona fed his angry feelings with fears and tears daily trust and confidence override hostility. Friends would normally sit down and
 He also put on a friendly front to deceive others about his talk
 We tend to close our minds and not try to solve unpleasant exchange of
anger words with our rivals
 We all go out and pretend that everything is fine by putting on a false front

 The angry feelings grew so strongly inside the persona that it  We allow to foster within ourselves with unpleasant thoughts

became ‘a poison tree’  We keep the anger inside and become obsessed until it builds up and

 The persona compared it to an apple tree that bore fruit or poison our thinking (as well as right or wrong)

‘an apple bright’  We let it go out of proportion

 The enemy saw the fruit and knew it belonged to the persona

 The enemy entered the persona’s garden quietly at night  We make no effort to hide our unpleasant feelings even at the risk of
when it was dark to steal apple hurting our rivals

 In the morning the persona saw his enemy lying on the  We might even feel happy when misfortune befalls our rivals
ground beneath the tree

Theme & Moral Values

THEME MORAL VALUES

1 Dangers of harbouring wrath and We must not harbour wrath and hatred
hatred/ill feelings against someone against anyone

2 Dangers repressing anger/bottling up Suppressing anger is bad for us and
ill feelings those around us/ bottling up feelings is
bad for us
3 The importance of communication When there is misunderstanding, we
when there is a misunderstanding should talk about it to resolve our
differences
4 Forgiving and forgetting When there is a misunderstanding, we
should forgive and forget