Figurative Language In The Poison Tree By William Blake

The way that you develop and discover yourself and your personal attributes is largely impacted by the environment you grow up in, as shown in The Poisonwood Bible. Each member of the Price family reacts differently to their being thrown into a completely new location, culture, and livelihood; the maturation path of each child varies drastically from the others, and their exposure to the Congo impacts each of them in a different way, which we observe through each character’s language and behavior in the book. The stylistic formatting, tone, and figurative language used in Leah Price’s narratives in The Poisonwood Bible change as she grows, and the maturation of her physical structure and overall mentality correlate to her development in language throughout the story. Leah enters the Congo as a religious, rule-following adolescent from the suburbs of Bethlehem, Georgia, but as time passes and she becomes accustomed to the land, Leah begins to develop in ways that were once unforeseen by her and her family.

In A Poison Tree, the speaker has a direct man vs man conflict with another man, and he doesn't deal with it properly, so he ends up killing the man. The ultimate ending of a conflict without resolution is the explosive violence that emerges with suppressed emotion and anger. The conflict which occurred between the speaker and another man was serious enough for the speaker to inflict ultimate damage and reckless violence against his foe. The speaker baits his foe into a trap, describing “And into my garden stole, when the night had veiled the pole: In the morning glad I see my foe outstretched beneath the tree.” The speaker tells of the foe falling for taking the shiny bait which is the fruit of his wrath, and sees the foe dead from the poisonous fruit. The speaker shows no remorse and is happy with the outcome. This conflict is used by Blake in expressing his theme by supporting the result of explosive violence that stems from repressed emotion.

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,

This last stanza uses more elevated language to express more complicated emotions such as awe, humility and repentance. The early verses express simple anger in simple terms. This last stanza differs noticeably from the first two in the language it uses and the sentiments it expresses. To start off he admits he has made a mistake “I see that I’ve been carried away” l.43. This is the first time he uses a 1st person narrative. It helps the reader believe he is sincere. The poet adopts a humbled tone when he expresses embarrassment at his earlier attack on the “coward trees” and feels ashamed: “foolish in my judgments” l.46. Instead of denying his previous statements he takes responsibility for them.

There is a conflict between practicality and sentimentality conveyed through the use of both literal and figurative language by poet Mary Oliver in “The Black Walnut Tree.” There is an alternation from a debate between mother and daughter rationalizing reasons of selling the black walnut tree- that sits in the family’s backyard- in order to pay off their mortgage, to the symbolic viewing and characterization of the tree as a reflection of the family’s history and what value it holds to further generations. Despite the “whip-crack of the mortgage” experienced every month, cutting down the black walnut tree would be a heinous deception on the family’s heritage.

Such detail put into the description of these catacombs cause the reader to ponder the awful, and rancid areas that succumbing to your inner rage can take you. Revenge to Montresor brings him through “walls of piled bones”(376), in which to a reader, can thoroughly terrify them and pressure them into not ending up the same way, or not letting their instincts conquer their conscious. Blake uses a very similar imagery, the pleasing display of someone who has fallen due to unsuppressed vengeance. The main character of “A Poison Tree” endures a very conflicting time, a time where his rage becomes a small sapling and he “water’d it in fears”, “sunned it with smiles” till finally his rage was ready and strong enough to explode. This man’s rage envelops him and he finally pleases his rage and murders his enemy, leading to the image of his “foe outstretched below the tree”, otherwise known as the blossomed tree of his revenge. The eventual image of his murdered foe blissfully outstretched below the main character's rage is very difficult to read and imagine without the discouragement of be pushed that far as well, even while that anger may not end in such drastic measures. Describing the scene of the foe below his metaphorical tree put fear into the reader, and makes it clear that the author is attempting the discourage the reader from

The deranged, but brilliant Edgar Allan Poe once said “The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls...” Poe’s notions of the evil within are found in both “The Cask Of Amontillado” by Poe, and “A Poison Tree” by William Blake. The authors write about how revenge can create this insane creature within that will only settle for betrayal and destruction. For example, the speakers in both features are wronged by someone and their way of handling it is deceitful murder. The killers on the outside are characterized as calm people; while on the inside, they are characterized truly as people who enjoy watching those who “deserve it” suffer. Poe and Blake use characterization to convey a theme that man takes violent revenge when they are wronged.

without warning”. Then in the third stanza, where he illuminates the allure of letting go of

In the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake, the use of rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism all help the reader understand the theme and what was going through the authors thoughts while writing. William Blake was a mystic poet who channeled his thoughts and questions to write poems. He questioned the creator of both the Tyger and lamb, how could the same God create a destructive creature like the Tyger and on the other hand create a gentle animal, the lamb. This ties into the theme of the poem of how a God could and would create a monster like the Tyger.

“It should go like a black, hateful nightmare, and in the morning he would be new man. And every time that a thought assailed him—a tender memory, a trace of a tear—he rose up, cursing with rage, and pounded it down.” This passage is another example of Jurgis’ persistency. His urge to avoid the situation gives the reader an upfront perspective.

The main character Melinda has stopped growing and changing, which leads to her being depressed. This is shown when Melinda states, “My tree is hopeless” (page 152). This quote does not only tell how Melinda changes due to being quiet, but it also relates to the speaker in “A Poison Tree”. These two stories relate because in “A Poison Tree” the speakers identity is also changing just like Melindas, and he also suffers in the end from not speaking up by becoming evil. Melinda feels that she is the “screwed-up ninth-grader” by not talking at all, which made others think she needed “professional help” (Page 105 & 153). This tells the reader that Melinda thinks the is useless and also an outcast. This is the “poison” that Melinda drinks and the poison that the speaker drink in “A Poison Tree” makes them evil. Even though these are two different emotions they still got poisoned from not engaging in conversations. The use of “poison” indicates that both main characters can be effected from something so toxic that it can change there whole perspective of the

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 third stanza is when the narrator has something physical. He mentions how he has an apple and his enemy knew that the apple was his. The

William Blake was known to be a mystic poet who was curious about the unknowns in the world, and strived to find all the answers. Does God create both gentle and fearful creatures? As a questioned asked in the poem “The Tyger” William Blake pondered on why an all-powerful, loving God would create a vicious predator, the Tiger, after he created a sweet, timid, harmless animal, the lamb. The theme of this poem surrounds this idea of why the same creator would create both a destructive and gentle animal. This issue is brought up and discussed through rhyme, repetition, allusion, and symbolism.

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