What metaphor describes the speaker's wrath in "A Poison Tree"?
This poem is an extended metaphor, meaning that the metaphor is maintained at length, in this case, through the entire poem. The metaphor is that the narrator's wrath is a seed that grows into a tree. The narrator is saying that he has chosen to keep his wrath towards a foe to himself, and in doing so, nurtures it until it grows into a tree that bears a poisonous apple, which kills the friend he is angry with.
In the first verse, he hints at the metaphor, saying "My wrath did grow" (line 4). In the second verse, the metaphor is extended further. The narrator "waterd it in fears" (line 5) and with his tears. He provided it with sunshine in his false smiles, and finally the tree bears fruit in the third verse, "an apple bright" (line 10). His foe sees the shining apple, consumes it, and dies. ...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
It is the poison of the narrator's wrath that has caused the foe to die.
This metaphor is a particularly good one, since our anger, held inside, does bear poisonous fruit, although I find that the poisonous fruit often tends to harm the one bearing the anger, rather than the one against whom the anger is directed. Be that as it may, wrath held and nurtured is toxic, and the poem is telling us to beware of this in the form of a powerful metaphor.
How does the poet use figurative language to relate the speaker's "wrath" to the tree in "A Poison Tree"?
The tree and the speaker's wrath are related in that they are both poisonous.
The speaker's implacable anger at his sworn enemy poisons him, eating away at him inside until, eventually, the foe dies after eating a poisoned apple from the speaker's tree. In that sense, the poisonous nature of the speaker's anger can be compared to that of the tree, which grows just like his wrath.
What is initially figurative language becomes literal. At first, the poisoned tree is a metaphor for the speaker's anger at his enemy. But by the time we've reached the third stanza, the poisoned tree is a real tree, a tree capable of bearing poisonous fruit. And on eating this poisonous fruit, the speaker's foe dies, much to the speaker's satisfaction.
This notable shift from figurative to literal language drives home the central point of the poem: that anger and hatred toward others, especially if bottled up, can have real-life consequences.
References