Instructions
First read Blake’s poem and then read the three responses to the poem. Discuss the success and weakness in responses before reading the comments.
William Blake’s poem ‘A Poison Tree’ uses simple language and structure to create powerful meaning. The metaphor of the title, together with verbs like ‘grow’, ‘waterd’ and ‘sunned’ suggests the growth of the narrator’s wrath as an external object, supported by the placement of ‘grow’ at the end of the first stanza, rhyming with ‘foe’, which gives an ominous tone. The narrator creates a feeling of his wrath constantly growing through the repetition of similar phrases, ‘Night & morning’ and ‘day and night’ which supports the contrast between the couplets of the second stanza, ‘fears’ and ‘tears’ and ‘smiles’ and ‘wiles’
There’s some good analysis here but too often it’s left undeveloped. Comments on the metaphor of the title, the wrath as an external object, the ominous rhyme and the use of contrast could all be developed further. Some more unpacking of those points is needed. The comments are relevant, the use of textual support is good and there’s some grasp here of implicit meaning.