5. The speaker compares his wrath to
a. a flower.
b. a tree.
c. the sun.
The answer, of course, is b, a tree. The title gives
this away. Also, a tree is the only plant that could bear
“an apple bright,” as in the third stanza.
What else happens in the third stanza?
6. In the third stanza, the foe
a. grows his own apple.
b. shines the speaker’s apple.
c. sees the speaker’s apple.
The answer is c, the foe sees the speaker’s apple
(“my foe beheld it shine”).
Finally, what happens in the fourth stanza? This
stanza is somewhat trickier than the others, because in
this stanza, something happens that is not directly
stated. You know that the foe sneaks into the speaker’s
garden (“And into my garden stole”), but what else
happens?
The poem doesn’t exactly tell you, but you can
guess. The speaker had an apple; you know that this
apple grew on a tree and that this tree is a metaphor for
the speaker’s anger. You also know that the poem is
called “A Poison Tree.” You read in the fourth stanza
that, in the morning, the speaker finds his foe “out-
stretch’d beneath the tree.” What can you conclude?
7. At the end of the fourth stanza, the foe
a. is waiting to ambush the speaker and kill him
with the apple.
b. has been killed by the apple he stole because it
was poisonous.
c. is waiting to share the apple with the speaker.
Which answer do your clues add up to? The only
one that can be correct is b. The speaker was angry; the
tree (and so the apple) was poisonous. You know that
the foe, seeing the apple, snuck into the speaker’s gar-
den. Apparently he ate the apple, because now he’s
“outstretch’d beneath the tree.” You also know that the
speaker is “glad” to see his foe outstretched this way—
he’s glad to see him dead.
