What personal connection can you make to the poem "A Poison Tree"?
This is a good question because Blake wrote this poem as a cautionary moral tale and meant for the reader to apply it to his or her own life. He didn't write it for people to say, "oh, that's interesting, but too bad for that person who ate the poisoned apple."
The poet means for us to see ourselves in the persona who nurtured his anger at his enemy by watering it with his "tears" and sunning it with his deceitful "smiles." If we stuff down our anger, pretend we're happy, and don't resolve our conflicts, our anger will grow and grow until it becomes like a poisonous plant that will hurt other people. The poet shows us a different and healthier path in the first stanza, where the persona confronts the friend who makes him angry and works out the problem. The poem suggests that we have a choice about...
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how we behave and that resolving our issues with others is far better than letting them fester.
How does a personal conflict relate to the poem "A Poison Tree"?
First, let's look at what the poem is saying.
In the first stanza, William Blake refers to anger that was "told" and "did
end." This implies that he confronted his friend about the issue that had made
him angry and that the matter was resolved. He then goes on to speak of another
anger that was not spoken about, and grew as a result.
The second stanza tells us more about that anger that he "told not." By "watering" and "sunning" this anger, he allowed it to grow and prosper.
The third stanza talks more about this rage that grew—Blake reveals that it even bore fruit, in the form of an apple. He describes his foe here as an observer who saw the apple and knew that it had come into existence as a result of the rage that had been nurtured.
The fourth stanza describes how, in the dead of night, that same foe crept into the poet's garden and either died there or fell asleep.
The main message of this poem is that if a disagreement is resolved, it has no long-term consequences. If, however, anger is allowed to fester and grow, it becomes a life-changing phenomenon.
So, to link a personal conflict with this poem, you will have to think of a time when you kept your feelings bottled up inside and allowed them to control your mind and change your life. Personally, what comes to mind is the anger that I have towards my father for the emotional abuse that I suffered as a child. For other people, this may be a past lover, a friend, or a colleague. The key is to think of an unresolved conflict that caused you anger and festered in your heart.
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