William Blake 's Poem ' A Poison Tree '

This conveys the idea that the institutions put in place to aid people, may be doing the exact opposite. Furthermore, as the narrator continues down the streets he “mark[s]” citizens either with “ weakness” or “woe” (3, 4) The repetition in this instance recognizes the immense of poverty and suffering. Additionally, the strong negative connotations of “weakness” and “woe” establish a tone of hopelessness (3, 4). While conveying the distressed nature of man, the repetition of “every” further conveys the misery that surrounds, so much so that it is within each person the speaker witnesses (5, 6, 7). Moreover, as the poem continues, Blake implements the phrase “mind-forged manacles” (8). The purpose of this is to emphasize the constraints holding back man are fabricated in his brain, revealing that nothing can hold man back except himself. Blake furthers this point through multiple synecdoches. In the beginning of the third stanza the narrator hears the weeps of the “chimney sweepers,”

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,

The study of any poem often begins with its imagery. Being the centralized idea behind the power of poetry, imagery isn’t always there to just give a mental picture when reading the poem, but has other purposes. Imagery can speak to the five senses using figurative language as well as help create a specific emotion that the author is trying to infuse within the poem. It helps convey a complete human experience a very minimal amount of words. In this group of poems the author uses imagery to show that humanity is characterized as lost, sorrowful and regretful, but nature is untainted by being free of mistakes and flaws and by taking time to take in its attributes it can help humans have a sense of peace, purity, and joy, as well as a sense of

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.

The Cask of Amontillado, a story by Edgar Allen Poe, and A Poison Tree, a poem by William Blake, both focus on a character who wishes vengeance on another who has wronged them in some way. They tell of how two people have been said to have been wronged one too many times and felt the need to do something about it. In order to express their wrath felt towards these people, they both go as far as to successfully murder them. These two pieces of writing portray a similar message about those who seek revenge on others, showing the effects it can have on people. Blake and Poe use the literary device of conflict and figurative language to convey the theme that after a betrayal, a desire for revenge can bring out the worst in people and negatively impact the lives of themselves and others.

     Blake also uses startling irony in this poem. This irony shocks the reader into realization of how terrible life is for these small boys. Some of the verbal irony Blake uses lies in the first stanza. The poetic voice claims that “[his] father sold [him] while yet [his] tongue/ Could scarcely cry ‘ ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’'; (554). These words have a double meaning. They can mean that the speaker was not yet over mourning for his mother, or they can mean that he was so young that he was not yet able to sound out the s sound properly. In this case, he would stand on the corner and, instead of repeating the word sweep in an attempt at getting someone to hire him, he would repeat the word “‘weep!’'; (554). Another, more startling irony is that these young children hoped and lived for death because only in the after life could they become children. Blake emphasizes this with the

The wise mind of Mahatma Gandhi once said; “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” By getting or attempting to get revenge every time someone upsets you, the issue is never fully resolved meaning it could resurface and bite back harder the second time. In ”A Cask of Amontillado”, by Edward Poe, the author uses irony to show how Fortunato’s death was due to Montresor’s hatred. Similarly, in the poem “A Poison Tree”, by William Blake, the author uses figurative language to show how the enemy was killed because of the narrator’s anger. In both texts, the two characters were once friends and the enemies are being deceived. Poe and Blake use figurative language and irony to show how hatred and anger can lead to deception.

When reading the amazing poem a Poison Tree it show some good values in life. I really think it is about a friendship and they go through problems together. Have you ever had a friend that betrayed you? Betrayal is a bad thing, but it is possible to get it over it. A lot people do not really do not know how to handle it or what to do in that tough situation. Most people do not like confrontation or they avoid the problem. This why people do get mad, but they are sometimes scared to speak up because emotions and feeling towards others.

Blake says another line,”The mind-forged manacles I hear/How the chimney-sweeper’s cry” The first line was broad and didn’t go into much detail. In the other lines he tells us some problems that are faced. In this line he talks about how the people have chained their feelings and thoughts thus having no views and just following the society or the majority of the people.

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 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.

Blake uses traditional symbols of angels and devils, animal imagery, and especially images of fire and flame to: 1) set up a dual world, a confrontation of opposites or "contraries" which illustrate how the rules of Reason and Religion repress and pervert the basic creative energy of humanity, 2) argues for apocalyptic transformation of the self "through the radical regeneration of each person's own power to imagine" (Johnson/Grant, xxiv), and 3) reconstructs Man in a new image, a fully realized Man who is both rational and imaginative, partaking of his divinity through creativity. The form of the poem consists of "The Argument," expositions on his concepts of the "contraries" and of "expanded perception" which are both interspersed with "Memorable Fancies" that explicate and enlarge on his expositions, and concludes with "A Song of Liberty," a prophecy of a future heaven on earth.

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.

William Blake was one of those 19th century figures who could have and should have been beatniks, along with Rimbaud, Verlaine, Manet, Cezanne and Whitman. He began his career as an engraver and artist, and was an apprentice to the highly original Romantic painter Henry Fuseli. In his own time he was valued as an artist, and created a set of watercolor illustrations for the Book of Job that were so wildly but subtly colored they would have looked perfectly at home in next month's issue of Wired.

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