ENGL 3002 Position Paper "The Poison Tree"

Year taken: 2012-2013

Professor: Nellie Vázquez

Class: INGL3002

University: University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus

Grace H. Rodríguez Cruz

Prof. N. Vázquez

INGL3002- February 15^th, 2013

“The Poison Tree” Analysis

The great William Blake, one of the most outstanding icons from the romantic periods and also one of the greatest poets that has ever existed. His ways to write the right words for a huge impact on the reader is simply unique and powerful. On his poem “The Poison Tree”, dear Blake explodes in anger talking about his wrath towards a foe and friend; he started releasing some of this while speaking to a friend (I told my wrath, my wrath did end) however, he still wishes for his foe’s punishment and one morning he wakes up and finds his foe, who tried to steal from his garden, dead on the feet of his 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) With this, we see the main character happy about his foe’s destiny and how he was glad about it, probably because of his anger finally dismissed.

At first, my impression of the poem transported me to the Adam and Eve dilemma in Christianity because of the title and the foe having what he deserves. I believed it could’ve been something to do with religion. However, looking at Blake’s background through the internet, some scholars suggests this poem to be directed to the Church of England for its harsh judgment and damnation to those who abandoned it; just like Blake did. However, if we look at the surface of its writing, we could see that the lesson could be how hidden anger can poison the inner self into a way that you would not feel remorse nor pity if that someone you are angry with, and didn’t talk about it, dies. (I was angry with my foe; I told him not, my wrath did grow)

Noticing how infuriating the poem can get you every time you read it again and again, you can notice that this was plastered from a real experience he had. Even if this came from a past action that made him like this, the poem definitely has a deeper meaning than just being mad with someone. Blake speaks in it as if it were a coded diary, waiting for someone smart enough to get his message. Blake is using the transcendentalism to exploit his emotions on paper in a way that gives you a surfaced story but still holds a deeper secret. He did make this term really useful in more than just one poem, being consider a highly exponent of it in his era. Even if he didn’t gets much credit while still living.

Blake shows us the human nature in a cruel way with this work and how true can he be about it. He explores the dark corners of the mind and its desires for many things we don’t say that may be consider highly immoral. It exposes us to the world as a creature powerful enough to change the course of the world to its liking(like we have) and with it, the dark wishes we can carry in our atlas shoulders. We are being shown as how we really are.

Source: Stephen Greenblatt, M. H. Abrams , Carol T. Christ, Deidre Shauna Lynch, Jahan Ramazani, Catherine Robson, Jon Stallworthy, Jack Stillinger. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2: The Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century. 
8th: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006.