Analysis of A Poison Tree by William Blake

A Poison Tree

By William Blake

I was angry with my friend; 

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe: 

I told it not, my wrath did grow. 

And I waterd it in fears,

Night & morning with my tears: 

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles. 

And it grew both day and night. 

Till it bore an apple bright. 

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine. 

And into my garden stole, 

When the night had veild the pole; 

In the morning glad I see; 

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

The first stanza of Blake's poem is about anger.  It's not merely about anger, but it tells how anger works through nominal attribution.  The first line tells us he was angry with his friend, the second tells that he let his anger understand this and it ended.  Merely seeing the object of ones anger as a friend is enough to end it.  The second couplet tells us he was angry with someone whom he didn't inform his anger about.  One can hypothesize that he didn't inform it that it was a foe or friend is because the narrator never became aware enough to tell his anger about it.

The first couplet of the second stanza is no longer at odds with the second couplet.  The narration has given over to anger and there is no balancing or oppositional  discourse within the mind anymore.  Here the whole stanza is about how he nourished his anger, willingly or not.  Here again we're edified by the poem in what makes wrath grow within a person.  Fear, deceit, suffering, and glorying in wrath.

The third stanza talks about the fruit of this behavior which was a poisoned apple.  The narrator's foe sees this as an opportunity to take advantage of. Because of the behavior and motivations of the prior stanza the poison tree grew, and bore poisonous fruit. 

The fourth stanza talks about the deceit and folly of his enemy in trying to get into his garden by deceitful ways.  His enemy, having thought he was in for a sweet treat is instead poisoned and laid out dead beneath the tree. The narrator because of the nature of the wrath that grew in his heart, is happy to see this.