Name:
Period:
The Poison Tree
William Blake
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.
And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine -
And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
Respond to the questions below on a separate peace of paper.
1. Write down any words you don’t know. Look up the definitions.
2. Paraphrase the entire poem. Write at least one sentence per stanza.
3. What allusions does Blake use?
4. What symbols does Blake use and what do they symbolize?
5. What sort of person do you find the speaker of the poem to be? What evidence supports this?
6. In what ways does this poem describe Gene’s feelings toward Finny right before Finny’s fall from the
tree?
7. How is Finny’s “fall” from the tree a sign that Gene has “fallen from innocence”? What new
knowledge does Gene have about himself?
8. Now look at Bloom’s Taxonomy (on back). Write the level of response each of the above seven
questions is asking for. (for instance, is question #1 asking for synthesis, comprehension, knowledge,
etc)
BONUS: Write your own “Analysis” or “Synthesis” or “Evaluation” discussion question.
BONUS BONUS: What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy does the bonus question address?
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
Knowledge
“Remembering previously learned material;
recalling (facts or whole theories); bringing to mind”
“defines, describes, identifies, lists, matches, names”
Comprehension
“Grasping the meaning of the material;
interpreting (explaining or summarizing);
predicting outcomes and effects (estimating future trends)”
“convert, defend, distinguish, estimate, explain, generalize, rewrite”
Application
“Ability to use learned material in a new situation;
apply rules, laws, methods, theories”
“changes, computes, demonstrates, operates, shows, uses, solves”
Analysis
“Breaking down into parts;
understanding organization, clarifying, concluding;
identifying parts, seeing related order—relationships”
“distinguish, diagrams, outlines, relates, breaks down, discriminates, subdivides”
Synthesis
“Ability to put parts together to form a new whole;
to see similarities/differences – set of abstract relationships”
“combines, compiles, composes, creates, designs, rearranges, compares, contrasts”
Evaluation
“Ability to judge value for purpose; to base on criteria;
to support judgment with reason – not guesses”
“appraises, criticizes, supports, concludes, discriminates, defends, explains”