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 fearsNight and morning with my tears,And I sunned it with smilesAnd with soft deceitful wiles.
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 stoleWhen the night had veiled the pole;In the morning, glad, I seeMy foe outstretched beneath the tree.
Words in this poem
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- veiled a.
- Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Poison Tree is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of William Blake, Project Gutenberg ebook #574; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Blake, A Poison Tree, in Poems of William Blake (1783–1794), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #574, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/blake-poems/a-poison-tree.html, id L02020.
Form and metre
A Poison Tree is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABB friendA · endA · foeB · growB
- 2 AABB fearsA · tearsA · smilesB · wilesB
- 3 AABB nightA · brightA · shineB · mineB
- 4 AABB stoleA · poleA · seeB · treeB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I was angry with my friend: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I told my wrath, my wrath did end. | 8 | ········ |
| I was angry with my foe: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I told it not, my wrath did grow. | 8 | ········ |
| And I watered it in fears | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Night and morning with my tears, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And I sunned it with smiles | 7 | ···˘··· |
| And with soft deceitful wiles. | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| And it grew both day and night, | 7 | ······· |
| Till it bore an apple bright, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And my foe beheld it shine, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| and he knew that it was mine,-- | 7 | ······· |
| And into my garden stole | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When the night had veiled the pole; | 7 | ······· |
| In the morning, glad, I see | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| My foe outstretched beneath the tree. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.