A Poem About Revenge: "A Poison Tree"

            "A Poison Tree," by poet William Blake, deals with the concept of revenge. Revenge can utterly consume a person, and this poem is a perfect example of that. This poem is a good revenge poem because, in it, a man seeks revenge on a former friend of his that has now become his foe. The person that is betrayed is almost certainly a man because men are more prone to using violence and physical altercations to solve their problems than women. In this poem, the man who seeks revenge on his friend tries to contain his feelings of anger, but without much success. Finally, his emotions get the best of him and these feelings of ill will, that he is harboring, consume him. The man's revenge does not occur quickly, for he allows it to build so he can release it all at once. First of all, the man who is out for revenge allows his emotions to manifest in the form of a tree. Secondly, the man who is out for revenge allows his foe to behold the tree that he is growing out of revenge and spite. Finally revenge is fulfilled when the foe comes into the man's garden one night and is found dead the next morning. The man who is out for revenge allows his emotions to overcome him which leads him to grow a tree of ill repute, entices his foe into eating the apple of his tree of revenge, and finally be satisfied when his foes perishes from eating the fruit of his tree of revenge. "A Poison Tree" is a good poem about revenge because the man who is out for revenge is not trying to kill not just another person, but a person that he once considered to be his friend. .
             This is a good poem about revenge because, in the first quatrain, the man who is out for revenge tries to deal with his feeling of anger. In doing so, the man allows himself to fall victim to his own rage. The man who is out for revenge tries to reason with himself to calm himself down which, for a time, appears to work. As time progresses, however, the man's anger continues to build and mesmerize him.