A Poison Tree p.654

1
A Poison Tree(p.654)

• William Blake
• Songs of Experience
• 1793

2
Pre-Reading Quickwrite

• Label a piece of lined paper The Poison Tree
• Label your first section heading Quickwrite
• Respond (in writing) to this prompt
• Think of some ways that anger can be
  destructive, not only to the person that the
  anger is directed towards, but to the person
  feeling the anger.
• When finished with your Quickwrite, open your
  textbook to p. 654.

3
William Blake

• The author who brought you the worldwide smash
  hits The Tyger (Experience) and The Lamb
  (Innocence)

1757-1827
4
Historical Context

• Literary Genre Romanticism (European)
• 17981832
• A love of nature
• Focus on the common person
• Society
• The Industrial Revolution
• Factory System
• Movement to cities

5
Blakes Opinion Industrialization

• Blake was strongly opposed to the Industrial
  Revolution and the factory system
• He bound his own books by hand to avoid
  supporting the manufacturers.
• Blake felt factories alienated workers by turning
  them into machinery.
• Goods were uniform as opposed to handcrafted, and
  Blake thought this disconnected them from
  humanity.

6
First Reading

• Listen to and Read
• The Poison Tree p. 694.

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A Poison Tree

• I was angry with my friend  I told my wrath,
  my wrath did end.  I was angry with my foe  I
  told it not, my wrath did grow.
• And I watered it in fears,   
    Night morning
  with my tears  And I sunned it with
  smiles,  And with soft deceitful wiles
• a
• And it grew both day and
  night.  Till it bore an apple bright,            
                      And my foe beheld it
  shine.  And he knew that it was mine.   
• 
  And into my garden stole,  When the night had
  veiled the pole  In the morning glad I
  see        
• My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
  

8
After First Reading

• Impressions First Reading
• What did you think of the poem? What stood out
  to you? What themes or symbols might Blake be
  using here?

9
Second Reading

• Label the next section of your paper Second
  Reading
• After each quatrain, answer the comprehension
  questions on the slides.

10
A Poison Tree

• I was angry with my friend  I told my
  wrath, my wrath did end.  I was angry with my
  foe  I told it not, my wrath did grow.

Quatrain One
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Quatrain One

• 1. Describe each of the two scenarios that the
  speaker conveys in the first quatrain
• a.)The speaker wasthen hethen
• b.)The speaker wasthen hethen
• 2. What point of view (1st, 2nd or 3rd) is the
  poem written from?

12
A Poison Tree

Quatrain Two
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Quatrain Two

• 1. What is being watered? With what 2 things?
• 2. What is being sunned? With what 2 things?

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A Poison Tree

Quatrain Three
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Quatrain Three

• 1. What does the tree produce?
• 2. Where in literature have you seen this
• same kind of fruit used?
• 3. Who notices the fruit?

16
A Poison Tree

• And into my garden stole,  When the night
  had veiled the pole  In the morning glad I
  see        
• My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
  

Quatrain Four
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Quatrain Four

• What happened to the speakers foe?
• How does the speaker feel about what happened?
• What kinds of things could cause someone feel
  this way about a close friend?

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Third Reading

• Listen and read along carefully.
• Look for examples of the four literary elements
  on the following slide

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Listen for these Literary Elements

• Extended Metaphor
• A metaphor that continues and/or develops.
• Allusion
• A reference to a well-known and/or historical
  person, place, or event. Often biblical.
• Rhyming couplets
• Two lines of poetry that are next to each other
  and rhyme with each other.
• Quatrains

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A Poison Tree

• I was angry with my friend  I told my wrath,
  my wrath did end.  I was angry with my foe  I
  told it not, my wrath did grow.
• And I watered it in fears,   
    Night morning
  with my tears  And I sunned it with
  smiles,  And with soft deceitful wiles
• a
• And it grew both day and
  night.  Till it bore an apple bright,            
                      And my foe beheld it
  shine.  And he knew that it was mine.   
• 
  And into my garden stole,  When the night had
  veiled the pole  In the morning glad I
  see        
• My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
  

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Purple coupletRed quatrain Blue
biblical allusions

• I was angry with my friend  I told my wrath,
  my wrath did end.  I was angry with my foe  I
  told it not, my wrath did grow.
• And I watered it in fears,   
    Night morning
  with my tears  And I sunned it with
  smiles,  And with soft deceitful wiles
• a
• And it grew both day and
  night.  Till it bore an apple bright,            
                      And my foe beheld it
  shine.  And he knew that it was mine.   
• 
  And into my garden stole,  When the night had
  veiled the pole  In the morning glad I
  see        
• My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
  

22
Literary Elements

• Extended Metaphor
• -Poison treeanger
• -Gardening allowing anger to grow within
• -Poisonous apple the product of repressed anger
• Allusion
• references the Fall of the Garden of Eden from
  Genesis.
• Rhyming couplets 8 sets of rhyming couplets
• Quatrains
• 4 quatrains - (AABB)
• 2 rhyming couplets per quatrain

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Themes

• The Cultivation of Anger
• The seed of hate will grow
• Buriedhidden covered up   I was angry with
  my foe   I told it not, my wrath did grow
• Betrayal and Deceit
• -Tree and apple images from Genesis (Adam and
  Eve)
• -Allusions to this story of deceit, wrath, and
  anger.
• And it grew both day and night.   Till
  it bore an apple bright, 
• Hypocrisy
• --Hiding negative feelings to appear virtuous
• --Hypocrisy poisons the soul
• And I sunned it with smiles,   And
  with soft deceitful wiles

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Mini Project (Due two class periods from today)

• Pick One
• Create your own Poison Tree illustration.
• or
• Compose a poem or story related to one of the
  themes from The Poison Tree.
• or
• Record yourself doing a dramatic reading of one
  of The Tyger, The Lamb, or The Poison Tree.
  Present to me and (if you choose) to the class.