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What Does The Poison Tree Mean

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Red is a universal color to mean either danger or a warning, like a stop sign, or it can be seen as a powerful color. The color red is also a popular color for apples. A bright red apple is the signature picture when someone thinks of an apple. There are many references to red apples in stories and even in poetry. Usually the apples are in reference to a poisoned apple meant to kill someone. In the poem “The Poison Tree” by William Blake, the narrator compares his built up anger to a bright apple with the use of rhyme and symbolism to kill his foe. Anger is a very powerful emotion that can be expressed in different ways. In stanza one, the narrator was angry with a friend. “I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end,” once the narrator told his friend how he was feeling his anger dissolved. (475, Lines 1-2) The narrator goes on to say “I was angry with my foe; I told it not, my wrath did grow,” now the narrator is angry with someone he does not like and chooses not to tell that person. (475, Lines 3-4) Being angry with a friend, Blake is showing that the issue can be …show more content…

In stanza one it can be seen with line 1 and 2 couplet “friend” and “end”. The anger with his friend ended. The next couplet is “foe” and “grow” which is exactly what happened with the anger it grew because of his foe. The rhyme also seemed to speed up the poem and gives it a smooth pattern. The narrator wastes no time to explain how his anger has built up and has not shared his feelings with his foe. On line 11 and 12 the end couplets were “shine” and “mine” where he compares his anger to an apple that shines and then he says how his foe now knows about his anger. Rhyme helped show the narrator’s train of thought through the couplets because Blake made sure to put the couplets specifically with corresponding words to the meaning he was trying to

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