Poetic Devices In A Poison Tree

William Blake is a famous poet known for putting morals in his work. In his poem “A Poison Tree” Blake uses various poetic devices, such as imagery, and poem structure. Along with that, understanding this poem through a psychoanalytic perspective lets us understand the reasoning behind this person 's actions. Together, these key components combine to show the importance of expressing your anger in an appropriate manner and warns us about the possible consequences it has, if we do not address it.

During the lengths of this poem, Blake uses the image of an apple tree and the symbol of an apple to show the effects, both good and bad, communication has on anger. In the first stanza, the speaker “tells” his friend about his wrath, which …show more content…
His anger takes control of him during the “day” and “night” as he “waters” and “suns” it “with smiles/ And with soft deceitful wiles” (Blake, 7-8). The reader here also foreshadows that his anger, at some point in the near future, will grow until it can not grow no more, and at this point his actions will have severe …show more content…
This imbalance causes the speaker to make inappropriate decisions. The lack of a murder scene in the poem shows the “ego” of the speaker failing to awaken. In stanza one the speaker tells the reader that he was angry with his “foe”. He chose to let his anger grow instead. The poor morals shown by the speaker caused him to invest “day” and “night” into growing this “poisonous” apple. The speakers “id” started acting when he was glad to see “[his] foe outstretched beneath a tree” (Clarke, 16). The speakers “id” gained pleasure of his enemy 's death which blotted out the speaker’s “ego”. As a result, the speaker is still unable to realize the seriousness of his actions. He will only realize how serious these actions are, once the “ego”