This course "Literary Studies in English" (TSLB1124) is offered in the second semester of the preparatory programme for the students of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) in the Institute of Teacher Education in Malaysia. Topic 2a includes a discussion of the poem "A Poison Tree" by William Blake.

1. Poem “A Poison Tree”
by William Blake
Lecturer:
DR. Yee Bee Choo
IPGKTHO
TOPIC 2

2. Identifying subject, persona and addressee
Analysing themes
Identifying poetic devices
Appreciating language and style
Reflecting on relevance of poem
Expressing personal responses to literary texts
Reviewing poetic devices in the poem
COURSE CONTENTS

3. Identifying subject, persona and
addressee
• The subject of a poem is the idea or thing
that the poem concerns or represents.
• The persona (speaker) is a character taken on
by a poet to speak in a first-person.
• The addressee is the receiver of the poem’s
message.

4. Poem “A Poison Tree’ by William
Blake
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 waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And 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 stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

5. Identifying subject, persona and
addressee
• Subject: Anger/ Vengeance
• Persona: A hateful person
• Addressee: The speaker’s enemy

6. Analysing themes
1. Obsession with anger and hatred
2. Human relationship
3. Friend versus foe

7. Identifying poetic devices
1. Metaphor
• ‘A Poison Tree’
2.Personification
• ‘my wrath did grow’
• ‘The night had veiled the pole’

8. Identifying poetic devices
3. Allusion
• Biblical reference in linking the
poisoned apple to the forbidden fruit in
the Garden of Eden
• Reference to the fairy tale of Cinderella
which links the poisoned apple given by
the stepmother to Cinderella

9. Identifying poetic devices
4. Symbol
• ‘Tree’ is a symbol of anger.
• ‘Apple’ is a symbol of death.
5. Irony
• The growing plant is being compared to
a growing anger. A growing plant usually
brings life to human but a growing
anger can cause death to human.

10. Appreciating language and style
• Form
• written in quatrains
• Four stanzas
• Each stanza consists of a pair
of rhyming couplets in the regular
repeated pattern aabb.

11. Appreciating language and style
• Language & Style
• The vocabulary is simple.
• In the first stanza many of the words are monosyllables
except for the word 'angry', which is repeated twice to
emphasise emotion and to contrast with the two different
ways the speaker deals with this emotion
• The lines in the first stanza all start with 'I' which
emphasises that this is a personal story told from an
individual point of view
• Seven of the other 12 lines in the poem start with 'and'
which helps the story to build and increase in intensity.

12. Reflecting on relevance of poem
• Recognising the powerful forces that can
engender hatred within us, we must take
positive action and replace hatred with love.
• Sometimes, our friend offends us with words
and actions.
• We must learn to control our feeling instead of
suppressing it.
• We should not let it grow until we plan
something bad that can hurt our friend.

13. Expressing personal responses to
literary texts
Rosenblatt (1985)
2 Types of Responses
Efferent
Focus on seeking ad retaining
information, drawing
conclusions, giving solutions,
apply concepts and test
propositions.
Aesthetic
Focus on what we are seeing,
feeling and thinking, on what
is aroused within us by the
sound of the words and by
what they point to in the
human and natural world.
(Information) (Experience)

14. Expressing personal responses to
literary texts
1. How does this poem make me feel?
2. Are there particular parts of the poem that
stand out for me and why?
3. What does the poet say or how does the poet
express that make me feel this way?
4. Are there other ways that someone else might
interpret the poem?
5. What are the details in the poem that might
support another interpretation?

15. Reviewing poetic devices in the
poem studied (Revision)
• Metaphor
• Personification
• Allusion
• Symbol
• Irony

16. Tutorial 2a(i)
Based on the poem “A Poison Tree” by
William Blake, write your personal
response:
• How do you feel about the poem?

17. Tutorial 2a(ii)
Based on the poem “A Poison Tree” by
William Blake, draw a picture to
illustrate the poem.