A Poison Tree vs The Man He Killed

SIMILARITY: Both poems explore the destruction of an individual enemy in the context of a personal conflict (Blake) and a military conflict (Hardy)

Mutual

  • The foe sees the apple and “knew that it was mine”, which leads to the stealing of the apple and the enemy’s death

  • The speaker “shot at him as he at me”, leading to the enemy’s death

Inevitable (Anaphora/ Repetition)

  • The repetition of “And” in the final two stanzas shows the enemy’s actions following a logical sequence. “And my foe beheld it shine / And he knew it was mine / And into my garden stole”

  • “I shot him dead because / Because he was my foe”

SIMILARITY: Both poems use first-person narrators to illustrate the effects of suppressed anger directly and universally. Both poems illustrate how different contexts can result in a loss of personal autonomy and control of a situation.

First Person

  • ‘A Poison Tree’ is a first-person narrative, making its moral message about the dangers of suppressing anger more direct and personal

  • ‘The Man He Killed’ is written in the first person, which directly conveys the speaker’s regret and anger about his situation.

Rhyme Schemes

  • Blake tells the story of his speaker’s conflict in regular rhyming quatrains: This gives it a song-like that makes his moral message fell universal

  • Hardy uses a regular rhyming scheme for his quatrains, which gives his poem a universal, direct quality: This situation could happen to anyone

Loss of Control

  • In ‘A Poison Tree’ Blake shows how the speaker’s suppressed anger leads to a loss of emotional control over his actions and the situation

  • In ‘The Man He Killed’, Hardy conveys suppressed anger about the speaker’s situation, in which he has no choice or control over his actions.

DIFFERENCES: Violence and conflict are shown differently in each poem. In ‘The Man He Killed’ it is reluctant and regrettable, whereas in ‘A Poison Tree’ it is obsessive and personal.

Choice

  • In Blake’s poem, the speaker’s anger, his “wrath”, is the cause of the conflict, and he nurtures it “water’d it in fears”, “sunned it with smiles”, until it achieves his desired outcome - the destruction of his enemy.

  • In Hardy’s poem, the speaker’s violence is compelled by his situation: His anger about this is conveyed in his sardonic comment “Yes; quaint and curious war is!”

Hate

  • Blake’s descriptions of how his speaker’s anger continually “did grow” shows how he becomes increasingly compulsive in his hatred, and is “glad” when it results in his enemy’s destruction.

  • Hardy’s language shows that he doesn’t hate his enemy, and instead focuses on the similarities between them in phrases like “he and I” and “Just as I”: He uses language such as “but”, “although” and “perhaps” to convey his regret over causing his enemy’s death

Power

  • ‘A Poison Tree’ illustrates the power of suppressed anger to create conflict and overwhelm an individual’s emotional and moral stability

  • ‘The Man He Killed’ illustrates the power of governments to create conflict and overwhelm an individual’s autonomy and moral choices