A Poison Tree Analysis Essay

Step into the realm of an artist’s pen, as you read your way into this journey that we ascend. Author William Blake blew a drift into his palm, and spread it across the paper. Understanding the similarities and differences of his poems can decrypt a message between the two. I mean, what is the author really saying ? I am going to analyze and signify key details between the two poems “The Tyger” and “The Lamb.” I shall tell you of how the author views his work. Let’s get started shall we.

William Blake, a Romantic poet of the late 1700s and early 1800s, often wrote poems inspired by nature and his unique religious perspective. Blake’s book Songs of Innocence, containing the poem “The Lamb,” and his book Songs of Experience, incorporating the poem “The Tyger,” are no exception. In “The Lamb,” one reads of a speaker with a trusting and childlike perspective examining the surrounding creation. The evolved speaker of “The Tyger,” however, views nature with a disenchanted perspective. When looking at “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” side by side, one sees different perspectives about the creation of nature through the usage of diction, rhetorical questions, characterization, imagery, allusions, and syntax in the poems.

Blake employs simplistic and allusive diction to portray the innocent nature of the children. The simplicity of a child’s experience is exemplified through Blake’s usage of “cry”, “laughing”, and “fear” which illustrate universal emotions felt by many. In addition, Blake uses allusive language through examples like “Angel”, “God”, and “heaven.” The reference to the heavens in the first poem functions to evoke feelings of goodness, which goes along with the dream like qualities of the poem, aiding in constructing the image of an innocent child. In the second poem, however, the focus on the oppression and structure connotes the dynamic of the destruction of a child’s innocence.

The meaning of the poem A Poison Tree is how hatred can be a powerful weapon that can lead to both physical and mental injuries if not controlled on time. In the first stanza of the poem the speaker gets angry with a friend and a foe. The speaker seizes their wrath with the friend, however, the speaker allowed their wrath to grow with their foe, “I was angry with my foe; / I told it not, my wrath did grow.” Throughout the second stanza, the speaker grows their wrath with mixed emotions, “And I water’d it in fears, / Night & morning with my tears: / And I sunned it with smiles, / And with soft deceitful wiles.” As the speaker kept growing their wrath, it blossomed to form new anger, new tricks and plans for destruction, “And it grew both day

The poem creates the theme that holding in anger may lead to awful consequences through first person point of view by describing the poet’s struggle to release his emotions that eventually cause him to hurt his enemy. For instance, after stating that he told his friend about his anger, and his anger died, Blake says, “ I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.” This quote from the poem shows that this is written in a first person point of view. The poet then goes on to describe how he watered down his anger, and it continued growing. At the end,

William Blake’s illuminated manuscripts were published in multiple editions; all of the editions were etched differently than its predecessor. In these illustrations, one finds meaning and value; an inextricable link between these artistic expressions and the text that Blake wrote exists. These works should not be viewed separately, but rather viewed together, as one single entity. While the text, at times, proves itself to be unstable and potentially confusing for readers, the etchings serve as a way to view the intention of Blake’s words, as well as expressing the underlying feeling attached to the text in a visual way. Understanding both pieces of art is crucial to the apprehension of the implied meaning of the works. Without having to read the words, the viewer already grasps the tone and perhaps even the content or context of the piece. The etchings force reader interaction with the poems, relying on the non-passivity of the audience. Blake intended for the illustrations and the texts to be viewed in correlation with one another, as it allows for a deeper understanding of the intended meaning.

William Blake was deeply aware of the great political and social issues during his time focusing his writing on the injustices going on in the world around him. He juxtaposed the state of human existence through his works Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), showing differentiating sides of humanity. The contrast between Songs of

Blake conveys the theme of another's actions being the reason for sadistic tendencies through characterization as well. The poem “A Poison Tree” tells of a man whose anger festers until he

Blake’s two poems are both told from a child’s point of view, which is different from many works and forces adult readers to realize the fault in society’s standards through the bleak eyes of the many unfortunate children.

Over time, many have regarded William Blake as an extraordinary figure in the Romantic Movement, particularly with his artistry and poetry (“William Blake”). He was highly influenced by society, the Bible, classical artists, literature, and mythology (Vultee, 2012). Each idea impacted his writing, with all of his poems being about those specific topics. Since he had an accomplished career as an artist, many of his poems were accompanied by his own drawings to enhance responses toward his work (“William Blake”). His creativity, knowledge, and complexity have made him a noteworthy person in artistry and poetry. To this day, he has influenced the artistry of more contemporary people, such as Allen Ginsberg, William Butler Yeats, and Salman Rashdie (“The Legacy of William Blake in Contemporary Culture,” p. 14). William Blake was and will always be an important member of the Romantic

William Blake, now one of the most famous Romantic poets of the era, was given nearly no recognition for his influential works during his lifetime. He strove to break free from the pattern of thoughts that defined common experience, and this was ever present in his works of literature. Perhaps his most renowned pieces were his two collections of poems titled Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, which illustrated the progression of man from childhood to adulthood, and demonstrated how the unpleasantries of life brings about the maturation from childhood to adulthood, and greatly affect how people view the world. In Songs of Innocence, the series that Blake wrote when he was young, he suggests that by recapturing the wonderment of childhood,

William Blake was a painter, engraver and poet of the Romantic era, who lived and worked in London. Many of Blake’s famous poems reside in his published collection of poems titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience. This collection portrays the two different states of the human soul, good and evil. Many poems in the Songs of Innocence have a counterpart poem in the Songs of Experience. The poem “A Poison Tree” is found in the Songs of Experience and it delves into the mind of man tainted with sin and corruption that comes with experience. In a simple and creative style, the religious theology of the Fall of Man is brought to life. The poem tells the story of how man fell from a state of innocence to impurity, focusing on the harmful repercussions of suppressed anger. Blake utilities many literary devices to successfully characterizes anger as an antagonist with taunting power.

The voice in this poem is one of pure happiness and innocence. In this state of joy, the infant is unaware of the world in which he lives and that awaits him. In these opening lines, we see Blake revealing the everyday modeling and structure that categorizes the world, but is absent in the simplicity and purity of childhood. The child has no name because joy needs no other name. Labeling and classification are products of organization and arrangement that the world uses to assimilate innocence into experience. Blake demonstrates that it is through this transition, that the virtue of child’s play is destroyed. Blake utilizes specific emotions such as “happy,” “joy,” “sweet,” “pretty,” “sing,” and “smile” to describe this uncorrupted state of being. There is no danger, darkness, or struggle for the infant. Instead, he exists in a care free state, free of guilt, temptation, and darkness. The birth of a child is celebrated by Blake and it stirs in us powerful emotions of peace, love, and hope.

The poem “A Poison Tree” by William Blake discusses human nature’s true form. Someone who is furious with a friend would obviously want to mend the friendship, so they let their anger simmer. However, someone who is upset with an enemy has no reason to tell him or herself to not be mad because all they are to you is an enemy. Therefore, your hatred eventually takes over and you do something dreadful. This literary composition shows the readers how anger can take a toll in two different directions. The poet writes with such ease, that it makes us readers believe he’s gone through it already.

William Blake is one of England’s most famous literary figures. He is remembered and admired for his skill as a painter, engraver, and poet. He was born on Nov. 28, 1757 to a poor Hosier’s family living in or around London. Being of a poor family, Blake received little in the way of comfort or education while growing up. Amazingly, he did not attend school for very long and dropped out shortly after learning to read and write so that he could work in his father’s shop. The life of a hosier however was not the right path for Blake as he exhibited early on a skill for reading and drawing. Blake’s skill for reading can be seen in his understanding for and use of works such as the Bible and Greek classic literature.