Analysing ‘A Poison Tree’ by William Blake
Teaching notes
Pre-reading
It would be helpful to give your students a context for understanding ‘A Poison Tree’, by
researching the ‘Songs of Experience’ and ‘Songs of Innocence’ (1794) before studying
the poem.
You could also elicit some class responses to the theme of anger through these
questions:

What makes you angry?

Is anger an emotion you find easy to control?

Is it always easier to be angry with an enemy than a friend?

How does anger affect you in other ways?

Is anger a healthy or unhealthy emotion?

How long should your anger last? Is there a period of time that is acceptable to be
angry for?

Has your anger ever caused them to say/do something that you later regret?
Tasks
There are a series of questions on the worksheet below. You could give the tasks to
individual students, or groups of students. Extension activities have been included, and
are differentiated from the easiest to the most challenging.
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Analysing ‘A Poison Tree’ by William Blake
Language

Re-read the poem and make notes on the type of language that is used.

The tense of the language changes during the poem: in the first stanza the word ‘I’ is used,
but then in verse two it has moved to a different perspective (‘it’ is now used). Why do you
think this it and what does ‘it’ refer to?

What contrasts are used in the poem? How is this effective?
Techniques

Identify the different techniques used in the poem.

How do these techniques help to convey the mood and emotions of the poem?

Which technique for you is the most effective and why?

What imagery is used in the poem and why? What could it relate to?
Tone and mood

Draw or describe images or objects that could be used to sum up and express the tone and
mood of the poem.

Explain why you have chosen them, referring to specific evidence in the poem to support
your ideas.
Structure

What structural features has Blake used throughout the poem? Consider lines, stanzas,
enjambment, use of punctuation, regular/irregular structure, layout, rhythm and beat, use
of rhyming couplets and anything else that is unusual.

How do these features help to convey the tone, mood, viewpoint of the poem?

Write a PEE paragraph explaining the effects of structural features.
Themes and the poet’s viewpoint

What do you think Blake is saying can happen to us when our anger takes over?

Is anger a healthy emotion according to the poem?

There is a Christian ideal of ‘self-denial’. What does this suggest about how we should
respond to our anger? What do you think Blake’s views on this ideal were?
Extension activities
Create a comic strip of the poem using the poem’s imagery to help express the events of the
poem and also highlight the themes. You can use lines from the poem or add your own
interpretation.
Research the ideals regarding anger at the time of the poet being written – particularly related
to the British view of anger held following the start of the French Revolution.
Write a detailed response and analysis of the poem focusing in particular on what you think
Blake is saying about anger, his use of imagery and how the context of the poem has affected
Blake’s poem.
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