If anyone is familiar with this poem, would you please tell me what you think it means to you.
Thank you very much.
Be kind to your neighbors.
Les
The original title was 'Christian Forbearance'. Forbearance means restraint. So, the motto/moral is that it is better to forgive (whatever injustices) than seek vengeance.
A Poison Tree
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 waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with 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 veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
There are some interesting questions raised here:
[3CJ4C7PlCIJ:www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/notesexp.htm+the+poison+tree,+blake,+criticism&hl=en
Les
I have read something like that before.
"The speaker is the Old Testament God, renamed by Blake Urizen, and the poison tree is his Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man is forced, or tempted, into the act of resistance, which is a FAll, accompanied by death, but also by knowledge--and with it double entendre, ambiguity, and irony"
Paulson, Ronald. "Blake's Revolutionary Tiger." William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987.
Possible, but less than totally convincing.
thank you very much
I think this poem means sometimes it helps to confront your problems or talk to someone about them because usually you'll just keep thinking about it and it'll keep getting bigger and bigger. I had to memorize this poem for a drama class not very long ago.