POISON TREE

A Session With Mr. Puru
SMJK CHUNG HUA, KUALA PILAH



▪ A Poison Tree is a short and deceptively simple poem about repressing anger and
the consequences of doing so. The speaker tells of how they fail to communicate
their wrath to their foe and how this continues to grow until it develops into
poisonous hatred.

▪ The speaker describes how when they were angry with a friend, they talked to
their friend about the issue which helped them to overcome their anger. However,
the speaker was unable to do the same with an enemy and this leads to developing
resentment and an even stronger degree of hatred. An extended metaphor of a
tree growing in the speaker's garden demonstrates how the anger continues to
grow. In the lines 'And I water'd it in fears' and 'And I sunned it with smiles' the
speaker actively cultivates the tree/anger.

▪ Eventually the anger blossoms into a poisoned fruit, the enemy eats the fruit and
dies and the speaker seems to be glad of this. However, there is also a sense that
they see the destructiveness of what has occurred. As the first lines acknowledge,
we can easily overcome our anger if we communicate it properly.

A Poison Tree

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 watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with 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 veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

A Poison Tree I was angry with my friend.

I was angry with my friend; *wrath = extreme anger
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I told myself to chill, but I did chill.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow. *foe = enemy
I was angry with my enemy.
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears: I told myself to chill, but I became angrier.
And I sunned it with 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 veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Stanza 1

▪Anger

▪His anger intensified / grew.

▪His friend/ his enemy/ his foe

A Poison Tree I watered it in fears
*It = wrath / anger
I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. *Night and morning = whole day/daily
I was angry with my foe: The whole day with sadness.
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
*Sunned = shine
And I watered it in fears, I grew “anger” with smiles.
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles, *Deceitful = keeping truth hidden for
And with soft deceitful wiles. advantage/ lies / dishonest
*Wiles = trick someone into doing
And it grew both day and night. something
Till it bore an apple bright. I smiled and be friendly to gain his trust.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Stanza 2

▪Deceitful

▪He watered it in fears and tears and sunned it with
smiles and deceitful wiles

▪The wrath

A Poison Tree And my anger continued to grow

I was angry with my friend; Until it’s obvious → Bright
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. *bright = shiny and poisonous
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow. Because a bright apple gets attention
Beheld = look at something
And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears: And my enemy knew it belongs to me.
And I sunned it with 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 veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Stanza 3

▪The apple referred to the persona’s anger / hatred

▪“grew both day and night”

A Poison Tree My enemy entered my territory → trap

I was angry with my friend; *pole = pole stars / north stars.
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. *veiled = difficult to understand / unclear
I was angry with my foe: When I was not in the best of mind.
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
*glad = happy
And I watered it in fears, I was happy in the morning
Night and morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles, To see my foe dead because of my anger.
And with soft deceitful wiles.
Because the tree, is his anger!
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 veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Stanza 4

▪The persona’s foe eventually died. He was glad to
see his foe outstretched beneath the tree

▪He felt happy because his foe fell into his trap.
▪He felt happy because his foe died under the tree.

A Poison Tree I was angry with my friend,
I told myself to chill, and I did chill.
I was angry with my friend; I was angry with my enemy.
I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I told to myself to chill, but I became angrier.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow. I watered it in fears.
The whole day with sadness.
And I watered it in fears, I grew ‘anger’ with smiles.
Night and morning with my tears: I smiled and be friendly to gain his trust
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles. And my anger continued to grow
Until it’s obvious
And it grew both day and night. Because a bright apple gets his attention.
Till it bore an apple bright. And my enemy knew it belongs to me.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine. My enemy entered my territory
When I was not in the best of mind.
And into my garden stole, I was happy in the morning
When the night had veiled the pole; To see my foe dead because of my anger.
In the morning glad I see; Because the tree, is his anger!
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

THEME EVIDENCE ANALYSIS

Anger: the basic human 'I was angry with my The first stanza (lines that
emotion which sets the friend:/ I told my wrath, make up a section of a
events of this poem in my wrath did end./ I was poem) contrasts two
motion. Although it is not angry with my foe:/ I told
necessarily wrong in itself, it not, my wrath did grow. different ways of dealing
how we go about dealing with anger and the two
with anger is extremely different outcomes that
may occur as a result.
important.

THEME EVIDENCE ANALYSIS

Deception: the speaker 'And he knew that it was 'Stole' is an interesting
bottles things up and does mine,/ And into my garden choice of word.While it
not talk about his feelings has the clear meaning that
to his enemy. The enemy stole'. the enemy sneaked in
sneaks into the garden in under cover of darkness it
the dead of night to take also reminds the reader
that it is an act of theft.
the fruit.

THEME EVIDENCE ANALYSIS

Communication: the 'I told my wrath', 'I told it This simple but direct use
poet/speaker not.' of antithesis (the use of
opposites) shows how
communicates a direct
moral lesson to the reader simple it would be to talk
about an issue but equally
about the disastrous
consequences of his own how easy it is to say
failure to communicate nothing and let resentment

with another person grow.

1. We must not harbour wrath and hatred against anyone./We must not
harbour ill felings against anyone.

2. Suppressing anger is bad for us and those around us./Bottling up
feelings is bad for us and those around us.

3.When there is a misunderstanding, we should talk about it to resolve
our differences.

4.When there is a misunderstanding, we should forgive ang forget.

HOTs

“I told it not, my wrath did grow.”
Unstable emotion should never be kept inside. How can

you release it? Provide a reason for your answer.

▪ Method:
▪ Talk to the people involved

▪ Reason:
▪ Talking can resolve the problem.

▪ I would talk to him/her to find out the root of the
matter.

“Till it bore an apple bright”
Do you think revenge solves problems? Give a reason for your

answer.

Opinion:
▪ No. It is pointless.

Reason:
▪ revenge does not solve any problem, it just makes it

worse.

Feelings :
▪ upset/sad/ unhappy

Explanation :
▪ I have no one to talk to.

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