A Poison Tree

Writer’s Craft Good Paragraphs

What are the speaker’s feelings in the poem and how
are they conveyed? (Write your paragraph here)
The speaker felt anger and resentment toward their foe. These emotions are intensified due to the
speaker's choice to conceal their wrath, allowing it to fester and grow into something more
destructive. The speaker reveals this process when they say, "I was angry with my foe: I told it not,
my wrath did grow." By choosing not to express their anger, the speaker allows it to intensify. This
hidden wrath is nurtured like a growing plant, as described in the lines, "And I watered it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles." Here,
the speaker metaphorically feeds their anger with fear and deceit, allowing it to develop into
something more tangible and dangerous—a "bright apple." This symbolizes how suppressed
emotions can manifest in destructive ways, ultimately leading to the foe’s demise. The imagery of
nurturing the wrath highlights the danger of unexpressed anger, which, when allowed to grow
unchecked, can result in harmful outcomes for both the individual harboring the anger and those
around them. This progression from suppressed anger to a vengeful outcome underscores the
destructive potential of unresolved emotions. By concealing their wrath, the speaker not only
allows it to grow but also surrenders to its influence, ultimately leading to a tragic resolution that
might have been avoided had the anger been addressed openly from the start.
What are the speaker’s feelings in the poem and how
are they conveyed? (Write your paragraph here)
The speaker feels extremely angry towards his enemy. This can be seen from the
lines in the poem, “I was angry with my foe, I told it not, my wrath did grow.” In these
lines the word “grow” shows us how the speaker choose to suppress his emotions
rather than expressing it which led to his anger increasingly greatly making him more
mad at his enemy. The metaphor of watering the anger “with fears” and “tears”
emphasizes how the speaker’s bottled-up emotions grew into something harmful. The
speaker’s anger is constantly growing like a tree. He uses the words “fears” to how
fearful he is of losing to his enemy. The imagery of the “apple bright” that ultimately
leads to the foe's downfall represents the poisonous nature of the speaker’s wrath.
Therefore, the speaker feels infuriated with his enemy and thus, resorted to illicit
means to get revenge. This is conveyed by the imagery and metaphors which show
the harmful extent that the speaker would go to just to make sure that his enemy gets
what he deserves.
 Funeral Blues
Writer’s craft - Good Paragraphs
How does the writer vividly convey the speaker’s sadness
in the poem? (Sample Paragraph)
The writer conveys the feeling of sadness in the poem vividly by using certain
diction in the form of commanding words. The writer uses commanding words like
“stop” , “cut off” , “prevent” and “silence” otherwise known as imperatives to show
how he wants for everyday common activity to be stopped to observe the silence
needed in respect of the person who has died. The words he has chosen take the
form of brief, authoritative instruction, as though he is commanding everyone to
stop doing everything else to pay attention to the death of the person whom he is
describing. The use of these words help to convey the despair that the speaker
feels, emphasizing the sadness in the poem.
How does the writer vividly convey the speaker’s sadness in the
poem? (Write one of your own here)
The writer vividly conveys the speaker's sadness by using metaphors (p) The writer stated that
‘He was my North , my South, my East and West’ and ‘my working week and my sunday rest’
(evd) This tells me that he is comparing his loved one to a compass this shows how sad the
speaker is as he states that his loved one gave him direction and stability in his life however he is
dead , hence there is now no stability and direction in his life to show how devastating his life is
now . The speaker can also convey sadness by saying that his loved one was his whole entire
week from monday to sunday to show that their whole week was filled with love that is now gone
forever due to his passing . These metaphors show how devastating his passing was to the
speaker and how badly is it affecting the speaker (exp) Therefore , sadness is well conveyed by
the speaker by the use of metaphors to describe how all the happiness and meaning in his life is
removed by the passing of his loved one l
How does the writer vividly convey the speaker’s sadness in the
poem? (Write one of your own here)
The writer vividly conveys the speaker’s overwhelming sadness through the use of
hyperbole, highlighting the speaker’s deep despair and sense of loss. The speaker’s
devastation is emphasized when he expresses, “the stars are not wanted now: put out
every one” and “pack up the moon and dismantle the sun.” The hyperbolic imagery
exaggerates the speaker’s grief, as the loss feels so immense that even the natural world
seems insignificant and should cease to exist. By calling for the removal of the stars and
the moon which are essential elements of light, the speaker reveals the extent of his
devastation. Additionally, the speaker implies that “nothing now can come to any good,”
which further suggests that the natural world no longer holds any meaning for him. As a
result, this hyperbolic expression vividly conveys the speaker’s sadness by showing how
his personal loss has distorted his perception of the world, making it appear as if nothing
good for him remains.
How does the writer vividly convey the speaker’s sadness in the
poem? (Write one of your own here)
The writer conveys the speaker’s sadness in the poem by using hyperbole. “Stop all the clocks,
cut off the telephone” the speaker wants to stop the noise made by the ticking of the clocks and
wants the whole world to halt for his personal grief as it was too much for him to handle, the
speaker’s words highlights the extreme of his sorrows. “He was my North, my South, my East
and West.” This shows how much the speaker’s partner meant to the speaker, that without the
partner, like a compass he was, the speaker lost all sense of direction in his life. The speaker
was completely lost in life, emotionally and physically without his partner because his partner
was his everything. “Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood” The speaker’s wish to
completely get rid of the world’s nature to its extreme is an impossible statement, this just shows
how meaningless he felt his left was after the death of his partner. Getting rid of the world’s
nature is like saying his world which was his partner was already gone so as to saying how
useless the entire world was to him and the void in the face of his loss. The use of hyperbole,
amplifies the sorrow of the speaker.