Samacheer Kalvi 9th English Solutions Poem Chapter 2 A Poison Tree
Samacheer Kalvi 9th English Solutions Poem Chapter 2 A Poison Tree
Tamilnadu Samacheer Kalvi 9th English Solutions Poem Chapter 2 A Poison Tree Questions and Answers
A Poison Tree Warm Up:
A. Choose the option that suits your own behaviour in the given situations. Compare your answers with a partner’s answers. (You can do the activity yourself)
1. You overhear a friend talking badly about you. How angry does that make you feel?
- I don’t feel angry at all.
- I feel moderately angry.
- I feel slightly annoyed.
- I feel very angry.
- I feel a little angry.
- I feel furious.
2. Your friend persuades you to take help to prepare for the Maths board examination, from a close friend. That person does not turn up at all, as agreed. How angry does that make you feel?
- I don’t feel angry at all.
- I feel moderately angry.
- I feel slightly annoyed.
- I feel very angry.
- I feel a little angry.
- I feel furious.
3. You have agreed to pick up some friends at the train station. They are coming to stay with you for a few days. You’ve arranged with your elder brother/sister to drive the car for the day. You are about to leave the house when you realise the car is outside but your brother/sister has gone to work, taking the keys! How angry does that make you feel?
- I don’t feel angry at all.
- 1 feel moderately angry.
- I feel slightly annoyed.
- I feel very angry.
- I feel a little angry.
- I feel furious.
4. During a get together, your friend makes fun of your singing in front of your friends. You thought your singing was fine, but your friend thinks you really need to practice much more. How angry does that make you feel?
- I don’t feel angry at all.
- I feel moderately angry.
- I feel slightly annoyed.
- I feel very angry.
- I feel a little angry.
- I feel furious.
B. Answer the following questions. Share your views with the class.
A Poison Tree Book Back Answers Question 1.
Do you argue often with your classmates?
Answer:
I do argue but not regarding personal matters and my arguments get over very soon.
A Poison Tree Question And Answer Question 2.
Do you forgive them or choose to remain enemies forever?
Answer:
Not instant forgiveness; it stays for some time. How long we remain enemies depends on the friend and the issue.
A Poison Tree Questions And Answers Question 3.
How long does your anger last?
Answer:
My anger lasts for an hour roughly.
A Poison Tree Textual Questions
A. Answer the following questions in a sentence or two.
1. I was angry with my friend
I told my wrath ‘my wrath did end.
Question (a).
Who does ‘I’ refer to?
Answer:
‘I’ refers to the poet, William Blake.
Question (b).
How did the anger of poet come to an end?
Answer:
The poet told the reason of his anger to his friend. The anger came to an end.
Additional:
Question (c).
Write a synonym for ‘wrath’.
Answer:
A synonym for ‘wrath’ is ‘anger’.
2. And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears;
Question (a).
What does ‘it’ refer to?
Answer:
‘It’ refers to anger.
Question (b).
How is ‘it’ watered?
Answer:
It is watered with fears and tears and tears of the poet.
3. In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree
Question (a).
How did the poet feel in the morning?
Answer:
He felt glad in the morning.
Question (b).
Who is the ‘foe’ referred to here?
Answer:
The person on whom the poet is angry with.
Question (c).
Why was the ‘foe’ found lying outstretched beneath the tree?
Answer:
The ‘foe’ ate the apple from the poison tree of anger. So he fell below the tree.
4. And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright
Question (a).
Who does ‘it’ refer to?
Answer:
It refers to anger, that is personified to the ‘poison tree’.
Question (b).
What does ‘apple’ signify?
Answer:
Apple indicates anger.
Question (c).
What grew both day and night?
Answer:
Anger that is personified to the ‘poison tree’ grew both day and night.
B. Complete the summary by filling in the given spaces with suitable words.
Once the poet was angry with his friend. He expressed his _________(i)__________ and it ended. They became friendly but when he grew angry with his foe, he ________(ii)________it and allowed his anger to grow. Day and night he watered it with his tears allowing it to grow. He ____(iii)______ his foe with false smiles and cunning tricks. The tree kept growing and yielded a bright apple which _______(iv)______ his foe to eating it stealthily during the night. The next morning the poet was happy to see his foe lying ______(v)______ under the tree.
Answers:
(i) anger
(ii) suppressed
(iii) faced
(iv) attracted
(v) outstretched
C. Answer the following questions in about 80-100 words.
A Poison Tree 9th Standard Question 1.
How did the poet’s anger with his friend end?
Answer:
The poet expressed his anger towards his friend as well as his enemy. But he specified the difference between two types of anger. He told that when he was angry with a friend, he convinced his own heart to forgive his friend. He sorted out the differences with his friend by expressing his anger to him and by discussing his own points of view with him. Even if he was hurt and he knew that his friend had done injustice to him, he would have tried his best to forget the past and end the feeling of vengeance in his heart. In this way, the poet’s anger, with his friend, came to an end.
Poison Tree Question And Answer Question 2.
Describe how his anger kept growing?
Answer:
The poet confessed that when he was angry with his enemy, he did not reveal his anger to his enemy. He feared that if he expressed his anger to him, his enemy would do harm to him. So he suppressed his anger. Day and night he shed tears thinking about the ill or the injustice that had been caused by his enemy to him. Thus, he watered the tree of anger with his tears, allowing the anger to grow. He also aroused his anger with his false smiles and cunning tricks towards his enemy. Since the poet kept his anger within himself and had his own fear and tears, his anger kept growing every day.
The Poison Tree Question And Answer Question 3.
Describe the effect of the poisonous fruit on the’enemy’.
Answer:
The poet, William Blake, revealed his anger to his friend and the anger ended. But when the poet concealed his anger from his enemy, the anger grew. It grew like a tree that bore a bright apple. His enemy saw the shining apple. Even though he knew that the apple belonged to the poet, he wanted to have it. So the enemy came secretly into the garden when it was night and ate the apple. In the morning, the ‘ poet’s anger changed into gladness when he found the enemy outstretched under the poison tree. The apple in the tree of anger symbolizes the poisonous effect.
D. Poem Appreciation: Figures of speech.
Question.
Pick out at least two Instances of alliteration from the poem.
Answer:
- I was angry with my foe.
- Night and morning with my tears.
- And I sunned it with smiles.
- Till it bore an apple bright.
E. Read the following lines from the poem and answer the questions that follow.
1. I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
A Poison Tree Questions Question 1.
Pick out the rhyming words.
Answer:
friend – end; foe – grow
Poison Tree Poem Questions And Answers Question 2.
What is the rhyme scheme of the stanza?
Answer:
a a b b
A Poison Tree Analysis Questions Question 3.
Identify the figure of speech in the title of the poem.
Answer:
Personification
2. And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears;
A Poison Tree Questions And Answers Pdf Question 1.
What figure of speech is used in ‘watered it in fears’?
Answer:
Personification.
Additional Questions
1. And I sunned it with smiles And with soft deceitful wiles
(i) Explain the phrase deceitful wiles.
(ii) Identify the rhyming words
Answers:
(i) The poet deceived or fooled his enemy by his tricks.
(ii) rhyming words – smiles, wiles
2. And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright
(i) What does it mean?
(ii) Identify the rhyme scheme,
Answers:
(i) If refers to ‘A Poison Tree’.
(ii) rhyming scheme – a, a
3. In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
(i) Which scene makes the poet happy?
(ii) When does the poet see his enemy dead?
Answers:
(i) In the morning when he saw the enemy dead under the poison tree.
(ii) In the morning, the next day after the enemy consumed the apple.
Listening Activity:
F. Listen to the passage on ‘anger management’ and match the sentence parts by drawing a line. The recording can be played more than once if needed.
(For listening to the script refer to our website www.fullcircleeducation.in)
Answers:
1. (c), 2. (e), 3. (b), 4. (a), 5. (d).
G. Answer the following in about 80-100 words. Take ideas from the poem and also use your own ideas.
1. Recall a recent situation when you became angry. What were the consequences of your anger? After listening to the guidelines on anger management, find out how well you could have handled the situation. Write your findings.
Answer:
“ When you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out – because that s what is inside. When you are squeezed, what comes out is what is inside. ” – Wayne Dyer
I don’t remember what the specific dates were of the incident but I do remember it involved my supervisor at the time. I think she had reacted in a way that I didn’t like.
2. What might have caused the conflict which led to the poet becoming angry with his enemy? Think of one such situation that you have experienced. Describe how you felt and how the enmity grew and things became worse.
Answer:
For the poet, it must have been quite personal life changing issue like lover, parents, cousins, etc., than professional conflict. When my father was taken to hospital for jaundice, he was detected of pancreatic cancer. At that time my elder sister who had always projected herself as a decision maker kept silent because of the fear of deadly disease. She did not play her part well. I naturally became very angry with her and stopped talking. When our father died, she did not play her role in the ceremonial practices but brought a whole lot of her friends to be sympathised. I will never forgive her. Anger has grown to a level where both familes have stopped talking to each other.
H. Discuss and Write.
(a) Identify five to six qualities which make an ordinary person, loved and respected by all. Work in groups of five or six. Each group has to take up one quality and discuss the methods for imbibing that quality’ and identify the challenges that need to be faced.
Answer:
Six qualities that make an ordinary person, loved and respected by all are:
(i) Friendliness and congeniality
(ii) Good personality
(iii) Deep knowledge
(iv) Effective communicator
(v) Good listener .
(vi) Sense of humour
(vii) Kindness
My group will now discuss the methods of imbibing the quality ‘kindness’.
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
(b) Adolescents are often distracted by feelings like anger, disappointment and general helplessness when they face challenges at school or at home. Suggest way to turn such feelings into positive ones.
Answer:
Adolescents face lots of challenges and stressful time. It is a period when boundaries are tested, doors are slammed, and voices often raised. When they express their frustrations in anger, that anger can be unsettling. Disappointment and general helplessness stems from a teen’s desire to be more independent from his/her parents and the frustration that he/she can’t yet enjoy the freedoms of an adult.
That frustration is sometimes expressed as anger and striking out verbally at parents. They will teeter between being engaged with the family and wanting to retreat by themselves or with friends for several hours at a time. Frustration is unrealized potential. Frustration drives ineffective leaders backward, inward and downward. To turn such negative traits into positive, let us understand that we must respond and not react. Remember the cockroach theory reiterated by Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google.
At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of cockroach. Her reaction was contagious as everyone in her group started panicking. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but… it landed on another lady in the group. Now it was turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.
In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant. Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behaviour? If so then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach. Similarly situation will make us angry, but if we could stop, think and then respond, anger can be controlled.
Additional Questions:
The Poison Tree Poem Questions And Answers Question 1.
What is the consequence of anger? How is it explained in the poem ‘A Poison Tree’ by Blake?
Answer:
A Poison Tree is a poem that focuses on the emotion of anger and the consequences of it. It deals with the darker side of the human psyche. The poet expressed his anger, everything was fine, but when he kept it inside, it began to grow, eventually becoming a metaphorical tree with poison fruit. The foe ends up under the tree, destroyed by the speaker’s pent up anger. Poet advises the readers to express the anger rather than holding it to oneself. Anger sustained damages both.
A Poison Tree Answer Question 2.
What motivated the poet to write on anger?
Answer:
William Blake wrote this poem in 1794 and it first appeared in his book Songs of Experience. Society at that time was encouraged to bottle up emotions and to present a polite and unruffled person to the world. Blake thought this approach unhealthy and advocated a more expressive mode of being, especially with regards to potentially festering emotion. His ideas were against the prevailing attitudes of the church and state. The original title Blake had for this poem, Christian Forbearance, reflects this.
9th A Poison Tree Poem Question 3.
Has the figure of speech been used effectively in the poem? Justify
Answer:
A Poison Tree uses metaphor, antithesis and biblical associations to highlight the self-damage that can proceed from suppressing anger. The emphasis is on letting go on negative emotions and moving on with life before this energy impacts on the health and wellbeing of others.
The worth of the speaker becomes a metaphorical tree bearing a poison apple. This allusion to the book of genesis chapter 3 is a clear one. The tree of knowledge of good and evil is the poem’s tree. The serpent is the speaker, both tempting and deceitful, Adam and Eve are the foe, both guilty of disobedience.
The poem carries with it a potent message, anger management which is the focal issue for many in society. Blakes’s prescient poem hits the nail on the head with its antithetical argument for letting go of negative energy.
A Poison Tree by William Blake About The Poet:
William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. His thoughts and art were a depiction of his bold imagination. He is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. Notable works of Blake are ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’, ‘The Marriage of heaven and Hell’, ‘The Four Zoas’, ‘Jerusalem’, etc.
In the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age, Blake is considered as a seminal figure. Blake lived and worked in the teeming metropolis of London at a time of great social and political change that profoundly influenced his writing. Blake worked to bring about a change both in the social order and in the minds of men.
A Poison Tree Summary:
In ‘A Poison Tree’ William Blake describes how to handle anger both with a friend and an enemy. The poet has given the readers a very valuable lesson how to handle conflict. Blake also helps the readers by clearly explaining the ill effects of holding malice inside oneself.
The first stanza speaks about two types of anger. One that was against a friend and one against an enemy. When the anger was against a friend, he took pain to explain his feelings and so the conflict was resolved. The anger ended. The other was against his enemy. He did not like him. He held the anger inside and did not express it. He also did not try to express it to others and find a solution. Resentment began to grow inside.
The second stanza talks about the anger which grew as a poison tree. The poet cultivated his anger, watered his budding tree with fear and tears every day and night. The enemy did not know of this growing fury. Deceptively the poet employed his smiles as though it was sun to this toxic tree.
With charm he cleverly did not allow interjection or awareness of his wrath. Third stanza tells how he nurtured the tree. Anger poisoned the human spirit, furthermore, it endangered the ability to use logical reasoning. Finally the tree bore the fruit of fury in the form of a beautiful, appealing apple. The enemy of the poet planned to stealthily eat the fruit of the tree.
In the final stanza, the enemy was lured by the fruit of that poison tree. Without the knowledge of the poet, the enemy ate the fruit of fury and was found dead the next day under the tree. The poet does not seem to worry about the loss. Blake uses the poem as a warning to those who harbour grudges and allow the feelings of resentment to stay inside without dealing with them. Expressing the feelings is the only Way to avoid the fruit of poison tree.
A Poison Tree Glossary:
deceitful – cunning, treacherous
foe – enemy
veiled – covered
wiles – tricks
wrath – anger
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