Context/Abt the poet

• Written by William Blake 1794
• William Blake was born, lived and died in London
• William Blake was a Romantic Poet
• William Blake worked as a poet and engraver all his life
• William Blake was religious but opposed the church as an organisation
• William Blake wrote 'Songs of Innocence' and 'Songs of Experience'. Innocence was generally more optimistic while Experience was more cynical. A Poison Tree was published in Songs of Experience
• William Blake claimed to see visions of God as a child and later in his life
• William Blake supported the French Revolution
• A Poison Tree is a Romantic poem: Simple language and use of nature makes this a poem from the Romanticism era. Blake calls for openness, honesty in personal relationships and he criticises authoritarian power, secrecy, hypocrisy and religion.