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 for Adam and Eve at the beginning of time. The fruit mentioned in the Bible is that of a forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought death into the world and all our woe.
The poem mainly deals with anger. The beginning of the poem begins by depicting a scenario in which a man told his friend he was angry with him, yet they were able to work out their differences and resolve the issue. His anger dissipated shortly afterwards, and the friendship continued to grow like a seedling soon becomes a tree with strong roots. Blake was also angry at his enemy, but Blake could not do the same as he did with his friend. He keeps his anger secret from his enemy. Blake made a mistake by not allowing his anger to escape. His anger grew both day and night. His anger toward his enemy soon consumed his thoughts. All relationships have a foundation upon which it is built. 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...
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