A Poison Tree

The first stanza of the poem identifies the speaker as a first-person entity relating their emotional state to the reader. The speaker is “angry” with their “friend” (Line 1). However, this emotion seems misapplied for the speaker, since “friends” are those to whom individuals feel close and typically like. Individuals may occasionally be upset with those closest to them, but good friends move beyond this resentment. The speaker seems to understand this dynamic, as they relate how they diffuses their anger by expressing it, or “telling” it, and making it, essentially, “end” (Line 2). Communication is key to controlling this negative emotion. “Told” could also be a synonym here for “check” or “stifle” (Lines 2 & 4).

The emotions the speaker feels are juxtaposed with the succeeding couplet. While the first couplet is dedicated to the emotional interaction with a “friend,” what follows details the speaker’s feelings and reaction to a “foe” (Line 3). The speaker expresses the same feeling of anger toward this individual as they had toward their friend, stating that they were “angry” (Line 3). They respond quite differently to this anger, though, relating how they “told it not” (Line 4). The speaker does not keep their emotion in check; they do not try to regulate their fervor in any way because they keep it bottled up.