Read the short poem below titled “Poison Tree” by William Blake. Connect it to Poe and revenge – specifically, the consequences of holding pain, anger, or shame inside.
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 water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my 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 veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree
11 comments:
The poem coonects to Poe because on the idea of revenge. All we hear is that the narrator is angry with his friend and wants revenge. We don't hear why, just like The Cask of Amontillado. Also, both the narrator of this poem and Montresor hold in their anger, until "my wrath did grow" (stanza 1, line 4). Also, the narrator uses knowledge of their intended victim to lead them to their demise. Montresor used Fortunato's love of wine, and the poem's narrator uses the knowledge that his victim will take anything that belongs to the narrator, like the poisoned apple.
The poem connects with Poe because it connects with his story "The Cask of Amontillado." Both of these pieces are about revenge and with that in mind, they both demonstrate revenge in just words. They never really explain themselves. They want revenge on their foe, but they don't give us the information on what the person did to make them want revenge. When you bottle up all those emotions, you end up building and building and building your emotions up and at some point you can't bottle it up anymore and you just explode. With anger, you explode on someone and most of the time and up doing something that at first you feel accomplished and good about, but then you feel horrible and sick and mad at yourself for letting it get to you so badly. The consequense of bottling up all those emotions and feelings inside, is you feeling shame and hate on yourself. You always end up with some type of hate on yourself.
This poem is a lot like "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. Also, the poem relates to Poe and his personal life a lot. In this poem, a man is very angry at a person. However, when he told them, he wasn't angry at them anymore. But when he does not tell another person, his anger grows. However, "we don't hear why" (mrusso) the narrator is angry. We just know that they ar angry, and intend to get revenge on that person.
We can relate the poem to Poe's personal life, like we can compare "Cask of Amontillado" to his life. It shows the anger and frustration that he had in his life. He uses some of his own experiences to write.
The author of the poet must be a lot like Poe. He seems to have the same anger and burning passion as Poe did in his writing. Also, they write about the same topics. Both this poem and "The Cask of Amontillado" are about revenge and getting back at a person.
The poem "Poison Tree" by William Blake connects to many of Poe's feelings. In most of Poe's stories, he feels some sort of emotion like anger or revenge. In the tale "The Cask of Amontillado" by Poe, the main theme is revenge, but the reader never knows why he wants to get this revenge on his friend. We have the same theme in this poem too. Blake is saying how he has this anger thats building up and all this hatred towards someone, but we never know why. I agree with Sydney when she said "When you bottle up all those emotions, you end up building and building and building your emotions up and at some point you can't bottle it up anymore and you just explode." Everyone has a limit to how much of our emotions we can hold in, and at one point if you don't let these feelings out, then they will find a way to get out themselves and it will not be a pretty sight. When Blake says:
"And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles" (stanza 1, lines 7 and 8), he is telling how he tried to cover up his real feelings. No matter how much you smile or pretend that you don't have anger or shame, eventually you won't be able to hold it all in anymore and you will burst. Lines 7 and 8 are also very similar to the things that Montresor did to Fortunato. He acted like his best friend, while he was really hiding inside deep, deep feelings of hate and revenge.
The poem relates to Poe because he wrote a short story, "The Cask of Amotillado", with a similar idea on revenge. In both Poe's short story and Blake's poem there is one character who has a secret hunger for revenge on another character. Also in both of these pieces of writing the character who holds a grudge for the other character never states or explains the reasons for his hatred. It also seems that in both "The Cask of Amontillado" and Blake's poem both of the characters that want revenge don't tell anyone else about there thirst for revenge. This allows for their hatred and thirst for revenge to grow and feed on the days and time till they have succeeded in getting their revenge. For both of these characters their idea of revenge isn't some sort of cruel prank. There idea of revenge reaches the extrema limit. Both of these characters find it completely necessary to murder the person they had a grudge on. For all of these reasons Blake's poem relates to Poe and his idea of revenge.
This poem relates to "The Cask of Amontillado" by Eager Allan Poe in a few different ways. First, they both have to do with revenge which is the main idea of each writing. Also, they both don't explain why one wants to get revenge. They just show emotions but not where the emotions are coming from. The consequences of holding pain, anger or shame in side is that once you have too much pain, anger and shame you have to take it out on someone. Even if it's not for the right reasons or to the right person.
Everyone feels the emotion of anger, pain or shame at one point, but not everyone holds it in for too long. Some people do the right thing and talk about their emotions or don't let it get to them. Others, like in the poem, "Poison Tree" and in "The Cask of Amontillado" hold it in until they can't deal with it anymore. I agree with eelphick when he/she said "No matter how much you smile or pretend that you don't have anger or shame, eventually you won't be able to hold it all in anymore and you will burst." This means that some people pretend to always be okay when really everything is wrong but they don't know how to let it go or deal with their problems.
This poem, is closely related to Edgar Allen Poe and his writing of "The Cask of Amontillado." Both of the materials deal greatly with the idea of revenge. There is one character in each one that wants revenge upon another character. As shuber said, the characters never really explain why they want revenge on their foes. If anything it is a brief sentence, but you never really get the full explanation. The consequences of holding all this pain and anger inside a character can really build up. They get so angry with the other character that when they cease their revenge, it is probably much more than it should be. Once you have revenged upon the other character, you feel a relief off of your back, but then, a new feeling comes along with hatred upon yourself for taking such actions.
Edgar Allan Poe had particular similarities in all of his poems and stories. These similarities are alcoholism, taphophobia, and revenge. William Blake's poem Poison Tree is much like Poe's ongoing theme of revenge, especially in the Cask of Amontillado. In both the Cask of Amontillado and the Poison Tree, the person telling the story holds back there anger until it produces an instrumental 'apple'. The 'apple' poisons the narrator, creating a poisonous hatred that kills each others enemy. This 'apple' can also be related to the plan Montresor hatches to kill Fortunato in the Cask of Amontillado. These unmistakable relations between the Poison Tree and The Cask of Amontillado clearly warn us of what grudges can create.
The poem by William Blake connects to "The Cask of Amontillado" because both are very much about revenge. It's about repressing a feeling of anger and hate for a period of time before it can't be held in any longer. The poem and short story have more in common then you would see at first glance. In neither do you know what the revenge is for. And in both they end in murder. When a person holds an emotion in and hides it, it doesnt make it better over time, it makes the feeling stronger and more unresolved.
In the Poison Tree, Blake shows us that holding pain or anger inside can grow and grow until you can do something totally ridiculous that you wouldnt have even done in the first place. Like in The Cask of Amontillado, the protagonist hid his feelings behind fake smiles and eventually he broke down and killed his former friend. He had bottled it up and hidden his feelings. In stanza 2 lines 3 and 4, his friend did not suspect the threat against him until too late, when the protagonist poisoned him with an apple. The friend, like Fortunato in The Cask of Amontillado, did not suspect a thing until the trap had snapped. It just goes to show that holding in anger and shame is not only horrible or even lethal to you, but to the innocent around you.
This poem connects to Poe in the fact that it involves revenge and has a dark plot to it. mrusso brings up a good point in saying that there is no given reason for this anger and rage. He also connected it to The Cask of Amontillado, which was a good comparison because the stories are so alike; in the end it is only the author and way of murder that is different. In both poems, the narrators have had a disagreement with a friend or acquaintance and, instead of releasing their rage, allow it to grow into hate. This brings the narrators to develop an extreme dislike for their enemy, and wish the worst upon them.
In this poem, “Poison Tree,” the narrator experiences forgiveness by telling his adversary what happened and why it has upset him. But the second time it occurs, the narrator doesn’t share his feelings, allowing it to grow inside of him until he must release it. This release appears in the form of murder. Like The Cask of Amontillado, the narrator uses his knowledge of the enemy to attract him into the trap. In The Cask of Amontillado, it is Montresor’s knowledge of how Fortunado loves wine and wants to protect his title as a master wine identifier. In “Poison Tree,” it appears that the narrator knows of how greedy his opponent is. Having this knowledge, the narrator picks the shiniest apple he can find in his garden, and shows it to his foe. Later poisoning it, he leaves it outside knowing that his opponent will come to steal it and eat it, thus dying from the poison inside.
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