A Poison Tree

The apple in the poem serves as a metaphorical representation of the physical manifestation of the speaker’s wrath. The extended metaphor begins in the second stanza with references to the planted seed of anger being “watered” (Line 5) and “sunned” (Line 7). In the third stanza, the anger grows and blossoms into a deadly fruit. Not only does the extended metaphor serve as a symbol and biblical reference, but it helps to make the speaker’s anger more relatable and tangible for the reader. If Blake had not grounded the speaker’s anger in a physical, solid object and in the metaphor of gardening/growing, the feeling of anger may have remained too abstract or incomprehensible for the audience. However, by grounding this intangible emotion into a physical vessel, readers are able to more aptly “see” it and its effects.

“A Poison Tree” consists of four stanzas of four lines each. This neat, simplistic construction is further broken down into two couplets in each stanza. These couplets all end with masculine rhyme meaning that the lines rhyme with either a similar single syllable or final stress.