Complete the following Table.
|
Aspect |
Present |
Past |
Future |
|
Simple |
Ravi writes a letter. |
|
|
|
Continuous |
Ravi is writing a letter. |
|
|
|
Perfect |
Ravi has written a letter. |
|
|
|
Perfect Continuous |
Ravi has been writing a letter. |
|
|
Question Words
Write
in question form using the correct question word.
1.
She drove the car. What?
2.
Father brings water. Who?
3.
He eats two plates of rice. How many
4.
She had many friends. How many?
5.
They travel by train. How?
Tenses
Complete
the following sentences with correct verb forms.
1. He
sometimes come late.
2. We
read now. Don’t disturb.
3. Mother
make tea. You can have it now.
4. I
was reading a book at 11.00 pm last night. What you do?
5. Please
come tomorrow morning. I type your letter.
𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗞
In 2019,
I saw a man who was wearing
something
called 'FACE MASK. '
He was a big joke
for me.
Time ran quickly.
Oh, dear!
One dangerous killer came
called ' Covid 19 '
to destroy the human race.
The killer show me
the TRUTH.
Who the biggest joke was.
C. Pabara Chandrasekara
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc_YeDFebK8
Please watch this video and improve your presentation skills. Listen to it with earphones. You too can have a PowerPoint presentation. I hope you will send me a voice message to the WhatsApp Group.
D.N. Aloysius
30.07.2021
Reference
https://www.google.com/search?q=tenses+you+tube&oq=tenses&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i57j0i433i512j0i512l2j69i60l2.5974j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Please watch the above video and get ready for the Grammar Lesson. You also can do all the exercises and send me the marks you have obtained as a percentage. So far, your marks: Lochana 80% Sulochana 93% Kurunagala Royal International School.
1. Lochana 80% A Pass
2.Sulochana 93% A+ Pass
Robinson Crusoe is an Englishman from the town of York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Encouraged by his father to study law, Crusoe expresses his wish to go to sea instead. His family is against Crusoe going out to sea, and his father explains that it is better to seek a modest, secure life for oneself. Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually succumbs to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend. When a storm causes the near deaths of Crusoe and his friend, the friend is dissuaded from sea travel, but Crusoe still goes on to set himself up as merchant on a ship leaving London. This trip is financially successful, and Crusoe plans another, leaving his early profits in the care of a friendly widow. The second voyage does not prove as fortunate: the ship is seized by Moorish pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved to a potentate in the North African town of Sallee. While on a fishing expedition, he and a slave boy break free and sail down the African coast. A kindly Portuguese captain picks them up, buys the slave boy from Crusoe, and takes Crusoe to Brazil. In Brazil, Crusoe establishes himself as a plantation owner and soon becomes successful. Eager for slave labor and its economic advantages, he embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa but ends up shipwrecked off of the coast of Trinidad.
Crusoe soon learns
he is the sole survivor of the expedition and seeks shelter and food for
himself. He returns to the wreck’s remains twelve times to salvage guns,
powder, food, and other items. Onshore, he finds goats he can graze for meat
and builds himself a shelter. He erects a cross that he inscribes with the date
of his arrival, September 1, 1659, and makes a notch every day in order never to lose
track of time. He also keeps a journal of his household activities, noting his
attempts to make candles, his lucky discovery of sprouting grain, and his
construction of a cellar, among other events. In June 1660, he falls ill and hallucinates that an angel visits,
warning him to repent. Drinking tobacco-steeped rum, Crusoe experiences a
religious illumination and realizes that God has delivered him from his earlier
sins. After recovering, Crusoe makes a survey of the area and discovers he is
on an island. He finds a pleasant valley abounding in grapes, where he builds a
shady retreat. Crusoe begins to feel more optimistic about being on the island,
describing himself as its “king.” He trains a pet parrot, takes a goat as a
pet, and develops skills in basket weaving, bread making, and pottery. He cuts
down an enormous cedar tree and builds a huge canoe from its trunk, but he
discovers that he cannot move it to the sea. After building a smaller boat, he
rows around the island but nearly perishes when swept away by a powerful
current. Reaching shore, he hears his parrot calling his name and is thankful
for being saved once again. He spends several years in peace.
One day Crusoe is shocked to discover
a man’s footprint on the beach. He first assumes the footprint is the devil’s,
then decides it must belong to one of the cannibals said to live in the region.
Terrified, he arms himself and remains on the lookout for cannibals. He also
builds an underground cellar in which to herd his goats at night and devises a
way to cook underground. One evening he hears gunshots, and the next day he is
able to see a ship wrecked on his coast. It is empty when he arrives on the
scene to investigate. Crusoe once again thanks Providence for having been
saved. Soon afterward, Crusoe discovers that the shore has been strewn with
human carnage, apparently the remains of a cannibal feast. He is alarmed and
continues to be vigilant. Later Crusoe catches sight of thirty cannibals heading
for shore with their victims. One of the victims is killed. Another one,
waiting to be slaughtered, suddenly breaks free and runs toward Crusoe’s
dwelling. Crusoe protects him, killing one of the pursuers and injuring the
other, whom the victim finally kills. Well-armed, Crusoe defeats most of the
cannibals onshore. The victim vows total submission to Crusoe in gratitude for
his liberation. Crusoe names him Friday, to commemorate the day on which his
life was saved, and takes him as his servant.
Finding Friday cheerful and
intelligent, Crusoe teaches him some English words and some elementary
Christian concepts. Friday, in turn, explains that the cannibals are divided
into distinct nations and that they only eat their enemies. Friday also informs
Crusoe that the cannibals saved the men from the shipwreck Crusoe witnessed
earlier, and that those men, Spaniards, are living nearby. Friday expresses a
longing to return to his people, and Crusoe is upset at the prospect of losing
Friday. Crusoe then entertains the idea of making contact with the Spaniards,
and Friday admits that he would rather die than lose Crusoe. The two build a
boat to visit the cannibals’ land together. Before they have a chance to leave,
they are surprised by the arrival of twenty-one cannibals in canoes. The
cannibals are holding three victims, one of whom is in European dress. Friday
and Crusoe kill most of the cannibals and release the European, a Spaniard.
Friday is overjoyed to discover that another of the rescued victims is his
father. The four men return to Crusoe’s dwelling for food and rest. Crusoe
prepares to welcome them into his community permanently. He sends Friday’s
father and the Spaniard out in a canoe to explore the nearby land.
Eight days later, the sight of an
approaching English ship alarms Friday. Crusoe is suspicious. Friday and Crusoe
watch as eleven men take three captives onshore in a boat. Nine of the men
explore the land, leaving two to guard the captives. Friday and Crusoe
overpower these men and release the captives, one of whom is the captain of the
ship, which has been taken in a mutiny. Shouting to the remaining mutineers
from different points, Friday and Crusoe confuse and tire the men by making
them run from place to place. Eventually they confront the mutineers, telling
them that all may escape with their lives except the ringleader. The men
surrender. Crusoe and the captain pretend that the island is an imperial
territory and that the governor has spared their lives in order to send them
all to England to face justice. Keeping five men as hostages, Crusoe sends the
other men out to seize the ship. When the ship is brought in, Crusoe nearly
faints.
On December 19, 1686, Crusoe boards the
ship to return to England. There, he finds his family is deceased except for
two sisters. His widow friend has kept Crusoe’s money safe, and after traveling
to Lisbon, Crusoe learns from the Portuguese captain that his plantations in
Brazil have been highly profitable. He arranges to sell his Brazilian lands.
Wary of sea travel, Crusoe attempts to return to England by land but is
threatened by bad weather and wild animals in northern Spain. Finally arriving
back in England, Crusoe receives word that the sale of his plantations has been
completed and that he has made a considerable fortune. After donating a portion
to the widow and his sisters, Crusoe is restless and considers returning to
Brazil, but he is dissuaded by the thought that he would have to become
Catholic. He marries, and his wife dies. Crusoe finally departs for the East
Indies as a trader in 1694. He revisits his
island, finding that the Spaniards are governing it well and that it has become
a prosperous colony.
Sources: https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crusoe/summary/
My favourite subject
My favourite subject is Mathematics.
Some say it is very difficult. But, I find it very easy. I have to work hard
for it. We must be more intelligent for studying Mathematics. I like this subject
from my childhood. My ambition is to be a pilot. So, I think Mathematics is
useful for my future ambition. I hope to enter the university and study
Mathematics as a subject.
Please read this and write about your ambition and send it to the Group.
Do
|
Affirmative |
Interrogative/Question |
|
I go. |
Do I go? |
|
You go. |
Do you go? |
|
We go. |
Do we go? |
|
They go. |
Do they go? |
Does
|
Affirmative |
Interrogative/Question |
|
He goes. |
Does he go? |
|
She goes. |
Does she go? |
|
It goes. |
Does it go? |
Did
|
Affirmative |
Interrogative/Question |
|
I went. |
Did I go? |
|
He came. |
Did he come? |
|
She slept. |
Did she sleep? |
|
It barked. |
Did it bark? |
|
You worked. |
Did you work? |
|
We played. |
Did we play? |
|
They ran. |
Did they run? |
·
Come= (do+ come)
·
Comes=(does+ come)
·
Came= (did+ come)
·
Do not=don’t
·
Does not=doesn’t
·
Did not =didn’t
|
Affirmative |
Negative |
|
I go home. |
I don’t go home. |
|
You learn French. |
I don’t learn French. |
|
We play cricket. |
We don’t play cricket. |
|
They eat rice. |
They don’t eat rice. |
·
Does
|
Affirmative |
Negative |
|
He drinks milk. |
He doesn’t drink milk. |
|
She goes to school. |
She doesn’t go to school. |
|
It barks. |
It doesn’t bark. |
·
Did
|
Affirmative |
Negative |
|
I went home. |
I didn’t go home. |
|
He came to school. |
He didn’t come to school. |
|
She slept early. |
She didn’t sleep’ |
|
It barked. |
It didn’t bark. |
|
You worked. |
You didn’t work. |
|
We played cricket.. |
We didn’t play cricket play. |
|
They ran. |
They didn’t run. |
A Dialogue between a teacher and student 24.07.2021
T.
Hello Ishan! Why were you absent last Monday?
S.
Teacher, I could not come because I was sick.
T.
Oh, my god! How are you now? Are you
feeling better now?
S.
I feel quite better now.
T.
That's good. You have missed the last lesson. How can you learn it?
S.
Sorry teacher. I will get my friend’s help.
T.
If you have any problem with the lesson, I can help you.
S.
Thank you, teacher. I will talk to you when I have difficulties.
T.
OK, You are welcome, Ishan!
An Accident
· At what time did it happen?
· It
happened at about 7 pm yesterday.
· What kind of accident was it?
· It
was a car accident.
· Were there any injured persons?
· Yes
of course. There were two injured ladies.
· At that time who was with you?
· My
uncle was with me.
· Did the police come to that place?
· Yes,
certainly.
S. Where did you come from?
F. I came from Japan.
S. With whom did you come?
F. I came with my family members.
S. Where do you stay?
F. I stay at Sigiri Hotel.
S. Which places do you visit?
F. I visit Sigiriya and Dambulla, which are very
attractive places.
S. Don’t you have an idea to visit Anuradhapura? If
you come to Anuradhapura, I can help you to visit so many ancient places.
F. Yes, I like to visit Anuradhapura also. But,
firstly we should go to Sigiriya.
S. Ok. When you come to Anuradhapura, please give
me a call. This is my number, 0777777777
F. Ok, definitely I will call you. Thank you very
much for your kind words.
S. Don't you have any idea go to Jaffna?
F. Actually, I don’t have an idea about Jaffna at
this moment. Can you tell me something about
it?
Introduction
During the Old English or
Anglo-Saxon Period (400.AD-1100.AD), mainly four languages influenced the
vocabulary of the English Language. They were Celtic, Latin, Greek and
Scandinavian languages. Of them, the Greek Language played a prominent and
outstanding role in contributing to the expansion of the vocabulary of the
English Language. Greek Language is an Indo-European Language, which was primarily spoken, in Greece.
It has been found that Greek Language had been in existence for approximately
3400 years.[1] It was also proved to
be the longest of any other Indo-European
languages. It is confirmed the fact that the relevant information
is available about the origin of the Greek Language
(Dawkins,
R.M:1916). It is also reported that
Greek originated with a migration of proto-Greek speakers
into the Greek peninsula. Moreover, it was found
that for many centuries Greek was the lingua franca[2] of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. It is also estimated that
around 6% of English vocabulary
has derived from Greek.
These words specifically include technical and scientific terms and in
addition to that, it seems that a lot of English words have been borrowed from
Greek. And also, the Greek
alphabet[3]
was the most considerable asset Old English had ever inherited from Greek. It
is also found that many letters in English have been borrowed from ancient
Greek, for instance, the English letters “a” and “b” are variations on the
Greek letters “alpha” and “beta."
[1] Professor of Ancient Greek Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, 1969–95. Author of Études sur la grammaire et le vocabulaire du grec mycénien.
London by William Blake
I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice:
in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
Popularity
of “London”: William Blake, a famous English poet
and painter, wrote ‘London’. It is a narrative poem about the
sufferings during the industrialization. It was first published in 1974 in his
volume, Songs of
Experience. The poem speaks about the speaker’s journey through
the streets of London, portraying the negative aspects of that city. Its also
deals with child labor and slavery.
“London”
As a Representative of Sorrow: The poem reflects upon the poet’s experiences
during his life in London. He narrates what he sees and hears while wandering
in the streets of London. The poem begins when the speaker is walking along the
Thames River. As he travels along, he encounters many weary and mournful faces.
He continues observing and hears crying and sounds of suffering because people
are forced to work in horrid condition. Also, he expresses resentment on how
poverty and sickness have doomed everything around him. He continues to
describe the miserable cries of chimney sweepers, darkening churches and the
soldiers who died because of war. At midnight, he hears the prostitute cursing
his baby’s cry. This curse would surely affect the innocence and purity of that
tiny soul. Thus, London forces people to live a life of misery.
Major Themes in
“London”: Effects of industrialization, poverty, materialism
and child labor are the major themes of this poem. The poet expresses the
darker aspects of London. He discusses how the city is plagued with sickness,
poverty and moral corruption.
People are not getting legitimate treatment with resultant agony and distress.
Death is also one of the prominent themes of this poem. He comments on how the
church walls are covered with blood due to wars. Hence, he also tells how the upper
class tormented the working people, including children.
Analysis
of Literary Devices Used in “London”
Literary devices are
tools used by writers to convey their emotions, ideas, and themes to make texts
more appealing to the reader. William Blake has employed some literary devices in
this poem to picture the image of London in the early 18th century.
The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.
“But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.”
“In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban.”
Analysis
of Poetic Devices Used in “London”
Poetic and literary devices are
the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of
the poetic devices used in this poem.
The lines stated below are
suitable for explaining the life of people leading a life of extreme misery and
longing for liberation from oppression.
“In every
cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.”
O rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy
In this small poem, 'The Sick Rose' we see Blake's ingenuity and
artistic supremacy. In a few deft strokes Blake carves out a crimson rose
attacked by a canker worm. The invisible worm is one that flies in night and
'howling storm'. The worm is engaged in a gradual seduction of the rose. It is
destructive to the life of the rose.
The idea expressed by Blake has also been interpreted as having sexual implications. Its subject is copulation. Based on Freudian analysis the rose can be considered as the female and the worm as male. These symbols, or the idea behind them, stirs suppressed feelings of indecency and severe censure, guilt and intimidation. These feelings of inhibition are actually associated with sexual experience especially in the adolescent mind. The libidinal instincts in the adolescent mind are frequently repelled and suppressed due to social prohibition and superstition. The worm, to suit this idea, is aptly described as 'invisible' and it 'flies in the night'. The worm is alive and active at night; and this referance to night hints at the secrecy of the thing as well as its destructive impact. This propitious time that is the night, shows that he comes like a vicious creature vilify and spread inflection into the object he chooses. 'The worm prefers to fly not merely at night but also when the storm blows and there is commotion in the air But all the greater is its power and vigour since it can even withstand the stormy atmosphere. If the worm excels in strength the rose is luxurious. Its cushy netals of joy welcome the strength of the worm though it turns sick later. Alongwith the other aspects we have to stress these positive aspects too. Though the two poems 'The Blossom' and 'The Sick Rose' come in the sections of 'Innocence' and 'Experience' respectively they can be taken as two characteristic specimens for comparison and contrast. In both poems the subject matter is sexual intercourse, and what is more they are symbolic too. But in 'The Sick Rose', we sense, quite vividly, a reserved and artificially disciplined approach towards the subject of sex. On the other hand 'The Blossom' has a frank, tender and an unorthodox view towards the very topic, but often we may doubt that The Blossom treats sex too trivially and attributes to it an unnecessary and too great an amount of purity. Instead of the tilting blossom of 'The Blossom' here we have a storm, a terrifying and raging wind: but it is all the more thrilling and thriving. Admittedly, the 'Rose' is Sick', yet not devoid of its natural floral 'bed of crimson joy'. The 'Rose' is relatively 'earthly', rather than heavenly which the 'Blossom' is. The final contrast we come across is that in 'The Sick Rose' the poet explores the dark recesses of the being and comes up with gems of beautiful perception.
The complex and vague erotic ideas are
skilfully transformed into a poem by the poet. The poem helps us visualise a
cankered rose plant in a stormy night. But there is more than what meets our
eye. The Rose is sick of selfishness. Its innocence suffers slow death and ruin
from, the worm or experience. The poet's flight of imagination materialises as
the poem stretches into still greater dimensions of meaning and implication. In
the words of Mr. Wolf Mankowitz, the kernel of the poem is explicit: "The
priests of the Chapel who bind joy and desire with briars are like Night and
its attributes in the first two poems. They are black against the light of joy
and desire and their darkness is not only their own, but their Chapels and the
society in which the institutional 'Thou shalt nots' are given rein".
These 'Thou shalt nots' are the social taboos pronouncing 'don'ts' as Bertrand
Russell says in his essay 'Happy Man.
"The joy and desire which are thwarted here, are
attacked by a worm in the 'Sick Rose' poem. Here it is immediately apparent
that the rose which sickens is a mortal rose. The human rose is attacked by a
worm which possesses a 'dark secret called Love', and it is an evil power which
destroys the life of the rose. The flower is attacked in its 'bed of crimson
joy' and this last imageric phrase can only stand for the sexuality of the
mortal rose. The argument of the 'Sick Rose' differentiates between love and
sexuality. Love here is destructive, it is a night-force, one of the links in
the chain which binds delight in the Earth's Answer. But sexuality, the
experience in the 'bed of crimson joy' is the very centre of the life of the
rose. When it is attacked the flower sickens and dies. What then is the love
which destroys it? Blake uses the word deliberately, and if we think of it as a
counter in a commonly played game of communication we shall more clearly see
his intention. He uses a personal expression to convey the experience of
sexuality because it is something which he has discovered, as it were for
himself. But if he has discovered it, it is in spite of love as it is commonly
called. Blake is concerned in this short poem with an incredible area of
experience. In it sexuality is revealed as the basis of life, the social
concept of love, as something destructive to life. Love in its social
definition is a negative creed of secretive joyless forbidding : love in
Blake's experience is a vital malter of joy, open and sensuous. The insistence
upon the need to keep sex open and honest and not 'a dirty sore' is incidentally,
just one of the points at which Blake reminds one of D.H. Lawrence. The
experience of the sick rose is one which both men recognised, deducing from it
similar conclusion. 'The Sick Rose' poem is the concrete expression of Blake's
experience of the corrupting effects of 'social' love upon 'creative'
sexuality. This last sentence emerges as the gist of the meaning of the poem.
Northrop Frye stresses a good deal on the
directness and simplicity of the poem, 'The Sick Rose'. It is a piece at once
mystic, symbolic and sexual. But Blake never dresses his thoughts as he does in
his ironical outcries, in a set of questions, primarily because he is
exceptionally conscious of the seriousness of the matter he deals with. The
complex network of wordy and elaborated jargons of mysticism never acquire
their place in the poem, He reaches the universal Truth (which lies no doubt,
in exposing the false social noris) with the help of natural and at images of a
rose and canker. Yet greater experience with literature soon shows that it is
metaphor which is direct and primitive, and conceptual, thought which is
sophisticated. Hence, there is a body of verse that can be called popular in
the sense of providing the direct, primitive, metaphorical key to poetic
experience for educated and uneducated alike. One may always meet a poem with a
set of questions designed to avoid its impact; what does it mean; why is it
considered a good poem; is it morally beneficial; does it say profound things
about life, and so forth. But such a poem as 'The Sick Rose' has a peculiar
power of brushing questions aside, of speaking with the unanswerable authority
of poetry itself. Blake's lyrics with many of those of Herrick, Burns, and
Donne, the sonnets of Shakespeare. Wordsworth's Lucy poems and a few of the
great ballads, are popular poetry in the sense that they are a practically
foolproof introduction of poetic experience.
William
Blake was an English poet. He was born in London, England, on 28th November
1757. Blake was not only an English poet, but a visionary poet of all
ages. He lived during Romantic age and his works depict the age of that time.
His work could not get fame during his life but later on he turned out to be a
visionary poet of all the ages. He was against race discrimination and wrote
for the equal rights. He also raised child labor issues in his writings and
other major issues of his age in his poetry.
A Poison Tree is a short poem and one of the most appreciated works of
William Blake. Initially, this poem was published in his collection of Songs Of
Experience in the year 1794. A Poison Tree is a
descriptive poem that depicts human emotions and their consequences.
This poem was published with the title A Poison Tree in 1830 in
the London University Magazine. Although Christian Forbearance was its original title and later
on it was changed to reflect better thoughts of the poet.
A Poison Tree is about the
hatred and corrupted effects of anger towards
others. In the poem, Blake shares his experiences with us that once he was
angry with one of his friends and told him about the matter of annoyance.
Consequently, the anger vanished away and both became friends again. In
contrast, he tells that once he was angry over his enemy but he never told him
about the matter, the anger kept growing in his mind against enemy and forced
him to keep it hidden from his enemy. He symbolizes anger by a poison tree full
of fruits which Blake’s enemy happens to steal and consequently dies.
The poem, A poison tree in
comprised on four stanzas. Here is stanza wise summary of A Poison tree for
better understanding.
The poet says in first stanza
that once he was angry with his
one of the friends due to any reason and
he told him clearly about it. By doing so, all his anger against his friend
vanished away and again they became friends.
In second half of first stanza,
poet narrates another experience that once he got angry with his one enemy and
did not tell him about it. This time anger stared growing in poet’s mind.
In the first stanza, we come to
know that how it is easy to reconcile with a friend if we clear doubts and
misunderstandings. However, on the other hand, if we do not talk to someone
when we are angry with him; anger and hate will keep growing in our mind
against enemy.
In second stanza, poet
elaborates his experience that he watered his anger every day and night in
fears of disclosing it to his enemy. He also shed tears because of hate. Here
poet wants to tell that he failed to give up his anger that causes him fear and
tears. Wrath kept growing in poets mind by day and night because he feared to
reveal it to enemy and in this way memory of ill-activity remained alive in his
mind.
In the last two lines of second
stanza, Blake says that he sunned his
anger with smiles and soft
deceitful wiles. Here poet symbolizes his anger
as a tree which is as growing in his mind as tree grows in light of sun. In
last line, poet says that the deceitful tricks (hiding anger) made the tree
grow up in poet’s mind.
In third stanza, poet explains
that the tree kept growing day and night and finally one day it became a full grown tree with a
bright apple. “Bright Apple” depicts here something
which attracts his enemy to eat it. However, deceitful tricks like deceit and
hate made this bright apple fully grown and it is harmful for the enemy
Many critics compare this
bright apple with the apple of the Heaven that was forbidden for Adam to eat as
believed in Christian and Islamic Theology. Adam and Eve were attracted by
Satan (Lucifer) to eat the forbidden apple but it caused a disaster in their
lives and they were expelled from the Heaven. Here poet wants to tell that like
Lucifer, he kept hidden his intentions and kept smile on his face that caused
harm to his enemy.
Some critics refer this bright
apple to some of written works of Blake which were stolen by one of his friends
and caused shame for his friend latter on.
In last stanza poets tells
about the consequences of that bright apple. Like Adam and Eve, the poet’s
enemy stole the bright apple from the garden at night and ate it. Later on, in
the morning, the poet is happy when he looks at his enemy lying dead under the
tree. Here poet compare himself with Satan as Satan was also glad to see Adam
and Eve being expelled from Heaven.
The message poet wants to covey
is that anger and hatred make one like Satan and when he plans to take revenge
for something bad done to him, one forgets the consequences. Morally, poet
tells us that we should clear our misunderstanding until they become like a
bright apple that can cause harm.
The poem reveals the power of
anger if not controlled at initial stage. Anger is an aggressive and dangerous
emotion that we all possess as human beings. In the poem, Blake has stated
clearly at the start that when we give up our anger, we can escape from drastic
consequences of grown up anger. When poet forgives his friend, he saved himself
as well his friend from the harm of the hatred.
When poet keep anger in his
mind and it keeps growing by different ways elaborated in the poem cause deadly
harm to the enemy of the poet. Instead of clearing doubts and grievances he
remembered every little thing that he has wrongly done to put him down and
harmed him dreadfully.
Blake clearly states that he
intentionally did not forgive his enemy, even though he could. If first case,
poet did so and saved his friend from the harm but he did not did so in case of
enemy.
Poet tries to explain it by a
Biblical reference that when Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat apple but Satan
urged them to eat that apple that caused them to being expelled from the
Heaven. In the same way, here poets states that if he did not save him his
enemy, even though he could save. He did the same act as the Satan did in
expelling them from the Heaven. Poet passed smile towards his enemy as Satan
urged Adam and Eve politely by hiding internal enmity. And finally poet became
glad when his enemy was stretched beneath the tree; he also followed Satan who
became glad when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Heaven for eating
forbidden apple.
The poem ‘A Poison Tree’ is one
of the most striking explorations of the corrupting effects of wrath and hatred
in English literature. Blake’s portrayal of anger, bitter, and wrath show the
deep level of seriousness rampant in the poem. It is also one of William
Blake’s miniature masterpieces.
Major themes of the poem, A Poison Tree,
are anger, hatred, and revenge. The poem explores the disastrous effects of
unexpressed anger that causes to grow hatred. Blake as a visionary writer,
dives deep into the darker side of human mind and tries to explain the harm
that anger can do. He also explains in the start of the poem that it is quite
easy to forgive someone before start of growing of hatred but when it starts to
grow, its outcome is drastic.
Symbolism is a literary
device where something is used to signify ideas and qualities, giving them
symbolic meanings different from literal meaning.
In this poem
· Tree symbolizes wrath and anger or loss of
patience.
· Garden is the symbol of the heart
where the hatred is natured.
· Bright apple depicts vengeance.
Sources:
·
https://literarydevices.net/london/
· https://www.englishliterature.info/2021/02/the-sick-rose-summary-and- analysis.html
· https://literaryenglish.com/summary-and-analysis-of-a-poison-tree-by-william- blake/
