A Poison Tree

In the poem “A Poison Tree” by William Blake there is a focus on the cultivation of anger by the speaker.   If the poem were to be considered in a religious context than the speaker is portrayed as God. This poem contains four stanzas that each have four lines.   This poem has a double rhyme scheme which means that the first two lines and last two lines of each stanza rhyme.
          The speaker was angry with one of their friends and one of their enemies.   The speaker discussed the reason for their anger with their friends which allowed it to fade away.   However, the speaker did not discuss and instead contained their wrath toward their enemy which led to it to grow.   This section of the poem has a life lesson or moral.   It exemplifies how when anger is confronted it can be resolved but if it is ignored it will only get worse.   The speaker is withholding their feelings which caused them to intensify.   There are some words in this stanza that have a negative connotation, such as foe, wrath, and angry.   This draws the reader’s attention to the negative feelings of the stanza.   Those words also lead to certain uneasiness.   However there are some words that counteract this feeling such as friend.   If the speaker is supposed to portray God than the “foe” can be seen as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden or simply humankind itself.   Blake also uses personification to give the human or plant trait growing to wrath.   This shows how the wrath is a force of its own and how the speaker is able to amplify it with his actions.
          In stanza two the wrath is being watered every day and night by the speaker’s fears and tears.   It is also being sunned with the speakers smiles and plotting thoughts.   Blake chose to portray the wrath as a plant or tee.   Since the speaker is suppressing their anger they are becoming afraid and having scheming ideas.   These actions are acting as fuel or food of the speaker’s wrath and are “feeding” the plant allowing it to grow.   This also...