A Poison Tree- by William Blake Flashcards
Poison Tree:
Who was this poem written by?
William Blake
Poison Tree:
What is some key context?
-Part of early Romantic Movements.
-Work often protested against injustices and the negative effects of the Industrial revolution.
-Poem is take from a collection called the Songs of Experience, which often presents the world as harmful, cynical, exploitative.
Poison Tree:
What is some analysis of the title?
-A paradox, showing the contrast of life and death/destruction.
Poison Tree:
What is the meter here?
Trochaic Trimeter and Iambic Tetrameter
Poison Tree:
What is the rhyme scheme here?
Regular Rhyming Couplets (AABB)
Poison Tree:
What is the lexical field of horticulture?
Associated with growth of nature.
Poison Tree:
What is the meaning in this poem?
-The dangers of repressing strong negative feelings, as opposed to expressing them and thus defusing their power.
-The fact that we all have the capacity for evil, but we need to recognise this and prevent it from fruiting.
Poison Tree:
“I told it not, my wraith did grow”- 1st Stanza
What is some analysis of this quotation?
-The lexical field of horticulture presents that nourishing one’s anger allows it to grow into burning hatred.
-The anaphora in the stanza of ‘I’ reiterates this to be a personal account and that that poetic persona is consumed by anger.
Poison Tree:
“My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree”- Last line
What is some analysis of this quotation?
-presents the idea that the speaker is eventually pleased by the possibility of their enemies demise.
Poison Tree:
“Till it bore an apple bright”
-reference to parable of Adam and Eve: The tree of knowlege in the Garden of Eden and how Eve is tempted to eat the fruit- causes the fall of man/ the original sin.
Strong Christian beliefs in 18th century.
