“A Poison Tree”

Metaphor & Allusion

Ephesians 4:26

 

“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor:

For we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not:

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil.”

Strong lines

 

  • “The allusion portrayed in Blake’s poem, “A Poison Tree,” suggests that God wants us not to let the sun go down on our anger.”
  • “By giving the anger a physical presence, the tree, he gives substance to the otherwise abstract concept of growing anger.”
  • “This leads to sin as he kills his foe, and like Adam and Eve, Eve’s inability to control her urges and Adam’s unwillingness to confront the problem, grow into primal sin.”
  • “The tree then produces an apple, which is an allusion to the apple that Eve ate, that was filled with evil, as is the one from the poison tree.”
  • “The main character symbolizes the serpent, trying to hurt, and to deceive with a bribe.”