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A Poison TreeShort story by William Blake

Flashcards for A Poison Tree

27 cards · 3 characters · 8 key quotes · 4 symbols · 12 literary devices. Nothing is saved and nothing is asked for — close the tab and the deck resets.

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Characters · 3

  1. The Foe

    In William Blake's short but psychologically rich lyric poem A Poison Tree (from Songs of Experience, 1794), The Foe is a minor yet crucial figure whose actions lead to the poem's tragic ending.

    character

  2. The Friend

    In William Blake's short but psychologically rich poem "A Poison Tree" (from Songs of Experience, 1794), The Friend is a minor yet crucial figure who appears only by implication in the opening stanza.

    character

  3. The Speaker

    The Speaker, an unnamed first-person narrator and the only active character in William Blake's lyric poem "A Poison Tree" (from Songs of Experience, 1794), reveals the poem's moral and psychological drama through their confession, serving as both protagonist and a cautionary example.

    character

Key quotes · 8

  1. “I was angry with my friend: / I told my wrath, my wrath did end.”

    These opening lines from William Blake's short lyric poem "A Poison Tree" (1794), found in Songs of Experience, set up the poem's main moral contrast.

    The Speaker (unnamed narrator) · Songs of Experience

  2. “I was angry with my foe: / I told it not, my wrath did grow.”

    These opening lines are from William Blake's short poem "A Poison Tree," which appeared in Songs of Experience (1794).

    The Speaker (Blake's lyric persona) · Songs of Experience

  3. “And I sunned it with smiles, / And with soft deceitful wiles.”

    These lines are from William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree," which was published in Songs of Experience in 1794.

    The narrator (unnamed speaker) · Songs of Experience

  4. “And I watered it in fears, / Night and morning with my tears;”

    These lines are taken from William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree," which was published in Songs of Experience in 1794.

    The narrator (unnamed speaker) · Songs of Experience

  5. “And it grew both day and night, / Till it bore an apple bright.”

    These lines are from William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree," part of Songs of Experience (1794).

    The Narrator (implied 'I') · A Poison Tree (Songs of Experience)

  6. “And my foe beheld it shine, / And he knew that it was mine,”

    These lines are from William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree," found in Songs of Experience (1794).

    The speaker (unnamed narrator) · Songs of Experience

  7. “And into my garden stole / When the night had veiled the pole;”

    These lines come from William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree," published in Songs of Experience (1794).

    The Poem's Speaker (implied first person) · A Poison Tree (Songs of Experience, 1794)

  8. “In the morning glad I see / My foe outstretched beneath the tree.”

    These closing lines come from the speaker of William Blake's short lyric poem "A Poison Tree," which was published in Songs of Experience in 1794.

    The unnamed speaker (lyric 'I') · Songs of Experience

Symbols · 4

  1. Sunlight and Water (Tears and Smiles)

    In William Blake's "A Poison Tree," the speaker's tears and smiles act like sunlight and water—the two forces that feed their growing anger.

  2. The Apple

    In William Blake's "A Poison Tree," the apple represents the dangerous fruit of hidden anger—a grudge that is secretly nurtured until it turns into a destructive force.

  3. The Garden

    In William Blake's "A Poison Tree," the garden represents the hidden, cultivated nature of repressed anger.

  4. The Poison Tree

    In William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree," the tree represents the destructive nature of hidden anger and unspoken resentment.

Literary devices · 12

  1. Allegory

    The poem serves as a continuous allegory where the speaker's hidden anger transforms into a tree that grows, flowers, and produces a deadly apple.

  2. Extended Metaphor

    The central idea of anger-as-tree appears in the first stanza and is developed throughout all four stanzas seamlessly.

  3. Symbolism

    The apple holds deep symbolic significance, referencing the Eden story to imply that its hidden wrath represents forbidden knowledge that leads to destruction.

  4. Juxtaposition

    The poem begins with a clear contrast: "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."

  5. Irony

    The poem's deepest irony comes from the speaker's calm sense of satisfaction at the end: "And I sunned it with smiles, / And with soft deceitful wiles."

  6. Anaphora

    Anaphora shapes the poem's argument with a subtle persistence.

  7. Allusion

    Blake's garden, the apple, and the enemy who steals the fruit in darkness create a lasting reference to the Garden of Eden in Genesis.

  8. Personification

    Wrath is portrayed as something that can be communicated, that develops over time, and that eventually bears tangible fruit.

  9. End Rhyme

    The poem sticks to a tight AABB end-rhyme in all four quatrains, using pairs like friend/end, foe/grow; tears/fears; wiles/smiles; night/bright; tree/see.

  10. Repetition

    "Wrath" shows up four times in the first eight lines, grabbing the reader's attention with its emotional weight.

  11. Quatrain

    "A Poison Tree" consists of four quatrains, each telling a distinct part of the story: the initial problem, how it grows, the ripening of the fruit, and the moment of the foe's death.

  12. Pathetic Fallacy

    The natural world in the poem mirrors and intensifies the speaker's emotions instead of staying indifferent.