A Poison Tree by William Blake Karnataka Board Class 10 English Textbook Questions And Answers
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
Answer the following questions briefly.
1.What happened when the speaker expressed his anger?
=The anger finished when the speaker expressed his anger.
2.What happened when the speaker suppressed his anger?
=When the speaker suppressed his anger, the anger only grew.
3.How are the results differ in the two instances?
=Expression of outrage in the main case calms the individual of all evil deeds.
Suppression of anger is harmful it keeps increasing the anger.
4.When the poet is thinking about his anger, the picture of a tree comes to his mind. Which word in the first stanza suggests a tree?
=Grow suggests a tree.
5.The speaker helped his anger to grow. The second stanza mentions the different ways in which he helped his anger grow. What are the different ways?
=The speaker watered it in fears, Night and morning with his tears and sunned it with smiles.
6.“Watered it in fears” suggests that
a. the speaker did not dare to express his anger
b. the speaker was afraid of the consequences
c. the speaker didn’t want to displease his enemy
=(b) the speaker was afraid of the consequences.
7.The word “tears” suggests that
a. the speaker too suffered for suppressing his anger
b. the enemy suffered
c. the speaker had to go through a lot of anxiety
=(c) the speaker had to go through a lot of anxiety.
8.“sunned it with smiles” suggests that
a. the speaker hid his anger with bright smiles
b. the speaker pretended that he was not angry
c. the speaker let his anger grow secretly
=(a) the speaker cunningly hid his anger with bright smiles.
9.Which line tells you that the speaker is a scheming and cunning friend?
=The line:-
“And I sunned with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles”.
10. The second stanza continues the image (picture) of a tree suggested in the first stanza. Which words in the second stanza refer to a growing tree?
=“Watered, sunned it” refers to a growing tree.
11. The poet, so far, has been talking about
a. his suppressed anger
b. a growing tree
c. both
=(a) his suppressed anger
12. What kind of a tree and fruit (here apple) can grow when they are nurtured by fears, tears, hypocritical smiles, and deceitful wiles?
=A poison tree.
13. The word “it” occurs in all the four lines of the 3rd stanza. What does “it” refer to in each line?
=‘It’ in the first line of the 3rd stanza refers to the speaker’s suppressed anger.
In the 2nd line, it refers to a poison tree.
In the third and fourth lines, it refers to a bright poisonous apple.
14. “Apple” in the poem refers to
a. the forbidden but tempting apple in the garden of Eden (in The Bible)
b. the consequence of suppressing anger
c. the fruit of his enmity
=(b) the consequence of suppressing anger.
15. The apple is “bright” because
a. it is intended to attract the foe
b. it is intended to tempt the foe
c. it is cunningly devised to hide the bitterness
=(c) it is cunningly devised to hide the bitterness.
16. Who “stole” into the speaker’s garden?
=The enemy “stole” into the speaker’s garden.
17. The word “stole” means
a. that the enemy stole the apple
b. that the enemy entered the speaker’s garden stealthily
=(b) that the enemy entered the speaker’s garden stealthily.
18. What does the speaker see in the morning?
=In the morning, the speaker sees his enemy dead under the apple tree.
19. Who, do you think, “dies” at the end? Is it only the enemy? Does the speaker also die? What kind of death does he die?
=The enemy is dead. Be that as it may, the speaker likewise languishes a ton of blame over having caused this demise. Even though he is alive actually, he is dead.
20. “A Poison Tree” could refer to
a. the tree of hatred and enmity grew by the seed of suppressed anger
b. the destructive effect of being hypocritical and deceitful
c. the spiritual death of a person for nurturing base passions
=All the three (a, b, c)
Close Study
Read the following extracts carefully. Discuss in pairs and then write the answers to the questions given below them:
1. “And into my garden stole/when the night had veiled the pole.”
a) Who stole into the garden?
=The speaker’s enemy stole into the garden.
b) Why did he steal into the garden?
=To steal the apple from the speaker’s apple tree, he came in a cautious manner.
c) Explain the phrase “veiled the pole”.
=Veil’d’ means ‘covers’ or ‘ hide to fool someone.’
2. And I sunned it with smiles And with soft deceitful wiles
a) What does the word “sunned” suggest?
=No matter how long the speaker gives a fake smile, his anger keeps on increasing. It acts like the sunshine to his anger.
b) Explain the phrase “deceitful wiles”
=‘Deceitful’ means ‘deliberately done to fool someone’.
The speaker pretends to be friendly with his enemy by behaving in a very sweet manner.
c) Why had the speaker “sunned” it?
=The speaker was hesitant to communicate his displeasure with his enemy. Thus he professed to be well disposed and content with him. This affectation caused his anger to develop.
Paragraph Writing
Discuss in pairs or groups of four each, the answers to the following questions. Note down the important points and then develop them into a paragraph.
1. How does the poet use the image of a tree to bring out the destructive effect of suppressed anger?
The speaker doesn’t tell his companion that he is angry with him. His anger develops. The development of a tree followed his developing displeasure. The speaker’s anger grows due to his tears, fake smiles, etc. His apple of anger shines exactly like the apple in the nursery of Eden. It draws in the companion and he takes it around evening time when the speaker was not looking. As the outcome, the apple from the harmful tree murdered the companion. The speaker also dies for allowing his anger to develop and for celebrating the death of his friend.