A Poison Tree Rhetorical Devices

In the poem “A Poison Tree” by William Blake, the poet employs diction of deception, archetypal symbolism, and misleading syntax in order to convey the message that when someone subdues their anger, it will eventually turn into the growth of poisonous thoughts/feelings. The speaker in Blake’s poem displays their anger in the first stanza in explaining that “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.” This is relevant to the theme by showing how simple it is for fury to form when a person does not make any motives of letting go of that anger. There are two ways to deal with anger and one of them is to let the wrath fester and this will grow poisonous; however, in