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Bad Apples Essay

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Bad Apples

"A Poison Tree" by William Blake is a short poem about life in general. The poem teaches its readers a valuable lesson about anger. Anger has power over ones’ mind and actions.
If a person holds in their feelings, especially anger, it can pull that person down emotionally as evident in the poem "A Poison Tree". This poem written by William Blake describes the darker emotions such as anger, hatred and Schadenfreude. The poem refers to "apple bright" in the garden which may lead readers to infer a Biblical reference to the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man, inflicting death upon his foe, is more cruel than the God of Genesis who banished the sinners from paradise.
Paradise is a place that God created …show more content…

Blake’s relationship with his foe is also like a tree. A tree’s foundation is its’ roots which provide nourishment for growth. The foundation for the relationship between Blake and his enemy was created from anger and deceit. The relationship began to feed on Blake’s hatred and fear, thriving in his hypocrisy, and as the poem stated, 'I sunned it with smiles, and with soft deceitful wiles.' The vicious thoughts nurtured with 'poisonous' intentions produced 'A Poison Tree' thus becoming the title of the poem.

After the anger manifested itself into a tree, his tree bore a seemingly harmless fruit-the apple. This apple was 'bright', having an attractive 'shine' and tempting his enemy. His enemy then entered the 'garden' seemingly undetected and ate this poisonous 'apple'. The power of this vicious, repressed anger unleashed with the every bite, overwhelming the enemy. The apple in this poem is a result of Blake's anger toward his enemy. Blake who is now burdened by his anger unleashes his anger and takes his enemy by surprise. The sensible and morally right action would be to talk to his enemy about his feelings. However, Blake lets his anger take control and become more intense at which the consequences are horrendous. Blake kills the man who has become the focus of his anger.
The death is symbolized by the enemy eating fruit from the 'poison tree'. Blake states in the poem, 'In the morning glad I see, my foe outstretched beneath the tree.' Blake reveals

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