William Blake’s Hidden Talents free essay sample

William Blake’s hidden talents In William Blake’s â€Å"A Poison Tree†, he takes on a simple approach at describing the different aspects and consequences of anger. The poem starts off by saying, â€Å"I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end† (Blake 1,2). Which is a very simple poetic way of saying he was angry, but he felt better after confessing his true feelings. When Blake continues, he explains how he cannot confess his anger to a foe, and goes on by creating images and speaking about the consequences. The obvious moral of this poem is that anger becomes dangerous when hidden from a friend and more importantly, a foe. Interestingly, the metaphorical language of William Blake adds a deeper meaning to the anger within the poem, and takes away the simplicity that the poem has at first glance. E. D. Hirsch points out in his book, the contrast between the simplicity of the language and the complexity of the ideas that it expresses and implies. We will write a custom essay sample on William Blake’s Hidden Talents or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Such techniques are exactly what makes, â€Å"A Poison Tree† a seemingly simple, but very deep poem. The simplicity of the first stanza can be easily compared to the simplicity of confessing feelings to a friend. It consists of a simple â€Å"A-B, A-B† rhyme scheme, with each A containing seven syllables, and each B having eight. Although this sounds simple enough, the following eleven lines surprisingly contain seven syllables each. This is because although the written words are saying danger and madness, â€Å"It grew both day and night† (Blake 9), the speaker actually feels sly. The words are organized, much like his plan to put an end to his anger. The story behind, â€Å"A Poison Tree† can be compared to the religious tale of Adam and Eve. When God directed Eve not to the eat fruit from his garden, the serpent lead her into temptation and she ate an apple. Although in that story, God had consequences for Adam and Eve. The speaker in, â€Å"A Poison Tree† only has consequences for not confessing his feelings to his foe in the first place, â€Å"My wrath did grow. And I watered it in fears† (Blake 4-5). Much like Eve, the speaker was tempted. Not tempted to eat the apple, but he was tempted to poison it. In the end, the speaker turned out to be the serpent, an enemy, who is God’s foe: The Devil. The speaker sinned: he killed. A premeditated murder is where the complexity and irony of the poem come into play. The speaker begins as the offended victim, and ends the poem as a sinning foe. Although at first confessing to a friend ends his wrath, the only way to end the growing anger towards an enemy is murder. â€Å"In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree† (Blake 15-16). That is where the continuous organization and perfectly numbered syllables come to an end. The anger is no longer growing and the speaker is happy. Irony is only one interesting aspect of â€Å"A Poison Tree†. Blake uses metaphors to paint an image of hatred and anger. An apple is a symbol of beauty, but most importantly: temptation. The apple represents the anger that is bottled up inside the speaker. The anger grew and built itself up to be the apple: something appearing to be beautiful, but holds danger within. Using metaphors and irony, William Blake has successfully written a very complex poem. Raina Lorring explains in her analysis, that â€Å"A Poison Tree† is Blake’s warning to the reader about what unchecked anger can do. Such an emotion can become poison to peoples minds if allowed to grow. Communication and releasing such emotions before they fester is the safest path to resolve conflict. Although that is the simple message of the poem, there is so much more meaning between the lines, that can be discovered when looking deeper into Christianity, and discovering the irony, for example.