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The speaker also addresses himself. The conflict does not come from outside the speaker; it is all within him. This makes the conflict that much more difficult to bear and this motivates him to write the poem, if for nothing else than to ease his spirit.
The speaker resolves the conflict through admission. It is a painful admission because the speaker must admit to his own humanity while doing so. It was his own anger that planted the seed and allowed his foe to eat the fruit. The tree in the poet's imagination is like the tree in Eden in that they both are corrupt. The significance of the events occurring in the speaker's mind forces him to admit his humanity. He is corrupt and morally wrong for allowing these events to occur, even if they did occur only in his mind.
"A Poison Tree" tells the tale...
The speaker reveals the hypocrisy of men with a scenario played out in his mind. Anger left unchecked causes damage but this is a fact we do not learn easily. We feel justified when we feel angry toward our enemies but this is hypocritical at best. The poison tree represents the size and scope of anger and the death of the enemy demonstrates the effects of such anger.
Works Cited
Blake, William. "A Poison Tree." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. II. Abrams,
M.H., Ed. New York W.W. Norton and Company. 1986. Print.
Heims, Neil. "Critical Essay on 'A Poison Tree.'" Poetry for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht
and Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 24. Gale Literature Resource Center. http://go.galegroup.com
19 Feb. 2010. Web.
Works Cited
Blake, William. "A Poison Tree." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. II. Abrams,
M.H., Ed. New York W.W. Norton and Company. 1986. Print.
Heims, Neil. "Critical Essay on 'A Poison Tree.'" Poetry for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht
and Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 24. Gale Literature Resource Center. http://go.galegroup.com
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