POETRY | A Poison Tree

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• Born in London during the Romantic literary era.
• Viewed London as corrupted by greed and inequality.
• Poet and artist used poetry to instigate change.
• Believed in equality for both genders, considered radical political views.
• Anti-monarchy and wanted a revolution to remove it.
• Identified as a ‘Christian’, but rejected the Church as a religious and political symbol.
• Experienced political and social change, particularly due to the French Revolution and its aftermath.

Question 2

Language

Answer 2

• Homophones in the poem: “And into my garden stole” - verb “stole” can mean sneaking or taking something without permission.
• “When the night had veil’d the pole” - may refer to the tree or pole star, or the polarity between speaker and foe.
• “In the morning glad I see” - adjective “glad” may represent a cheerful morning or happiness at seeing foe beneath the tree.
• The ambiguity of these words reflects uncertainty of feelings and emphasizes the complexity of understanding and dealing with them.
• All three words appear in the final stanza, indicating speaker’s lack of control.

Question 2

Form

Answer 2

• Uses Trochaic trimeter and Iambic tetrameter.
• Trochaic trimeter: Three stressed syllables in each line, followed by an unstressed syllable.
• Iambic tetrameter: Four unstressed syllables, each followed by a stressed one.
• Alternates between the two types to emphasize significant words like “angry” and “wrath.”
• Monosyllabic words sound as if they are ‘stamping’, adding to the theme of anger.
• Breaks the pattern in “And I sunned it with smiles,” disrupting the rhythm and highlighting the suppression of wrath as inherently wrong.

Question 3

Structure

Answer 3

• Uses an AABB rhyme scheme, reminiscent of a nursery rhyme.
• The poem’s lyrical quality enhances the didactic message.
• Lyricism juxtaposes immoral events, establishing a sinister tone.
• The poem’s structure reflects the speaker’s and foe’s division, as stanzas are separated into two couplets.
• Therefore, the structure of the poem reflects the theme of conflict.