In your essay, be sure to:

• Analyze how Blake develops the central metaphor of the poison tree throughout the poem's four stanzas, tracing the journey from suppressed emotion to fatal outcome.
• Examine the speaker's dual role as both victim and perpetrator — consider how Blake's word choices and tone involve the speaker in the "foe's" death instead of exonerating him.
• Discuss how the poem's seemingly simple, nursery-rhyme-like structure (consistent AABB rhyme scheme, brief lines) contrasts with its dark moral message, and what effect this tension has on the reader.
• Support your argument with close textual evidence, paying attention to specific word choices (e.g., "wiles," "glad," "outstretched") and their implications.

Thesis requirement

Your thesis should present a clear, debatable position on Blake's moral or psychological message — avoid merely summarizing the poem's events.

In your essay, be sure to:

Support your argument with close textual evidence from the poem, and place your analysis within Blake's broader thematic concerns in Songs of Experience (1794), if applicable.

Your essay should be 4–6 paragraphs long, include a clear thesis statement, and demonstrate precise literary analysis.

• Analyze how Blake's use of extended metaphor (the growing tree/apple) enhances the poem's central argument regarding wrath.
• Examine the role of tone and diction (for instance, "sunned," "wiles," "glad") in revealing the speaker's psychological condition.
• Discuss how the AABB rhyme scheme and consistent meter contribute to the poem's unsettling irony — a nursery-rhyme-like structure hiding a dark moral lesson.
• Consider the moral and psychological implications of the poem's conclusion: Is the speaker victorious, corrupted, or perhaps both?