A Poison Tree

• Who wrote the poem "A Poison Tree"?

  William Blake
• From which collection does "A Poison Tree" come?

  Songs of Experience
• What literary movement was William Blake a part of?


  The Romantic movement
• What themes did William Blake often write about?


  Social injustices and exploitation of children
• Who said, "Without contraries, there is no progression"?


  William Blake
• What does the poem "A Poison Tree" explore?


  The dangers of repressing strong negative feelings
• What does the rhyme scheme in "A Poison Tree" represent?


  A children's nursery rhyme
• What does the title "A Poison Tree" signify?


  It represents festering anger inside the speaker
• What produces the strong rhythm in "A Poison Tree"?

  A mixture of iambic and trochaic tetrameters
• How does "A Poison Tree" link to the Bible?


  It presents a paradox of the tree as a symbol of life and sin
• What is the moral of "A Poison Tree"?


  Letting anger fester destroys you and those around you
• What is the semantic field of "A Poison Tree"?


  Growth and life
• Who was Blake heavily inspired by?


  Shakespeare
• Where is the Volta in the first stanza of "A Poison Tree"?


  After "I told my wrath, my wrath did end"
• Which quote shows that anger festers inside the speaker?


  "And I water'd it in fears, night and morning with my tears"
• Which quote indicates that the speaker plotted revenge?


  "And it grew both day and night, til it bore an apple bright"
• Which quote shows a reference to Shakespeare?


  "When the night had veil'd the pole"
• Which quote illustrates how anger grows if it is not expressed?


  "I was angry with my foe, I told it not my wrath did grow"
• Where does the writer use alliteration in the second stanza?


  "Sunned it with smiles"
• Where does the writer use alliteration in the third stanza?


  "Bore an apple bright"
• Where does the writer include imagery in "A Poison Tree"?


  The poem uses imagery throughout to represent anger
• What is the structure of "A Poison Tree"?

  It is written in quatrains
• What does each stanza consist of in terms of language?

  Rhyming couplets
• What is the structural characteristic of the first stanza?


  Most words are monosyllabic except for "angry" which is repeated
• Which poem does "A Poison Tree" best compare to?


  "The Man He Killed"
• What are the major themes in "A Poison Tree"?


  • Hatred, anger, revenge
  • Catastrophic effects of unexpressed anger
  • The darker side of the human mind
  • Difficulty in forgiving enemies
  • Growth of hidden hatred into a destructive force
• What is the use of juxtaposition in "A Poison Tree"?


  • Contrasts telling a friend about anger vs. hiding it from an enemy
  • Shows the different outcomes of expressing vs. repressing emotions
• What references are made in "A Poison Tree"?

  • "Garden", "apple", and "tree" reference Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden
• What is the extended metaphor in "A Poison Tree"?


  • "Till it bore an apple bright" symbolizes the fruit of his grudge
• What does the symbolism of "tree" and "garden" represent in "A Poison Tree"?


  • "Tree" symbolizes wrath and anger
  • "Garden" symbolizes the heart where hatred is nurtured
• How does William Blake use imagery in "A Poison Tree"?


  • Visual imagery throughout the poem creates mental pictures
  • Examples include "And it grew both day and night" and "My foe outstretched beneath the tree"
• What is the rhyme scheme of "A Poison Tree"?

  The poem follows the rhyming scheme of AABB
• What is a rhyming couplet?


  Two constructive lines of verse in the same meter joined by rhyme
• How can the lines of "A Poison Tree" be used in teaching?


  They can narrate personal experiences of conflict and teach about forgiveness
• What does the apple symbolize in "A Poison Tree"?


  The apple represents anger growing large and ripening
• What does the metaphor "water'd it in fears" represent?


  It signifies the underlying cause of anger
• How does sibilance in "sunned it with smiles" affect the poem?


  It shows the resolution of anger between friends
• How does enjambment show invasion of privacy in "A Poison Tree"?


  It illustrates how the foe transgresses boundaries and provokes the narrator's emotions
• What does the phrase "the night had veil'd the pole" suggest?


  It could represent the peak of the speaker's anger
• What does the apple bright represent in the context of manipulation?


  It symbolizes the temptation to harm the foe