- A. I don't feel angry at all.
- B. I feel moderately angry.
- C. I feel slightly annoyed.
- D. I feel very angry.
This is a personal, self-reflective question. Students should choose the option that best describes their own feelings.
Subjective — no single correct option (self-assessment).
- A. I don't feel angry at all.
- B. I feel moderately angry.
- C. I feel slightly annoyed.
- D. I feel furious.
This is a personal-response question; students should select the option that matches their own reaction.
Subjective — no single correct option (self-assessment).
- A. I don't feel angry at all.
- B. I feel very angry.
- C. I feel moderately angry.
- D. I feel a little angry.
- E. I feel slightly annoyed.
- F. I feel furious.
Subjective — student to choose the option that best describes their feeling.
Subjective — student to choose the option that best describes their feeling.
- A. I feel very angry.
- B. I feel a little angry.
- C. I feel furious.
Students should choose the option matching their personal response; there is no objectively correct answer.
Subjective — no single correct option (self-assessment).
This is an open, reflective question. A good class response explains whether you argue often, whether you forgive or stay angry, and describes how long anger lasts, possibly giving a brief reason or example.
Sample answer (model response): I do sometimes argue with classmates, but I usually try to forgive them after discussion. I prefer to resolve conflicts quickly because holding a grudge makes relationships difficult. My anger typically lasts a short time — until we talk and understand each other.
(a) The speaker/poet. (b) By honestly telling his friend about his anger (communicating it), the poet's wrath was resolved and ceased.
(a) 'I' refers to the poet/speaker. (b) The poet expressed his anger (told his wrath) to his friend, and by speaking it out the anger ended.
The poem uses a tree as a metaphor for anger. The speaker nourishes that anger by dwelling on it (fears) and by tears, i.e. by emotional brooding, so it grows.
(a) 'It' refers to the poet's anger, represented as a tree. (b) He 'waters' it with fears and tears — by brooding, worrying and crying, thus nurturing his anger.
(a) Glad — the speaker is pleased. (b) The enemy (the person he hated but did not tell). (c) Because the apple (the fruit of his nurtured wrath) poisoned the foe when he ate it during the night.
(a) The poet felt glad/happy. (b) The 'foe' is the person with whom the poet was angry (his enemy). (c) The foe had eaten the poisonous fruit (the result of the poet's nurtured anger) and was felled — lying outstretched, apparently dead or unconscious.
The poem's central metaphor equates anger with a tree; by tending it the speaker causes it to grow until it bears a poisonous apple, which represents the harmful consequence of his unchecked hatred.
(a) 'It' refers to the anger, pictured as a tree. (b) The 'apple' signifies the poisonous result or fruit of nurtured anger — a temptation or act of revenge that harms the foe. (c) The tree of anger (the poet's wrath) grew both day and night.
Suggested fills based on the poem: (i) wrath (or 'anger') — the poet told his friend and the anger ended. (ii) concealed / hid — he did not tell his foe. (iii) deceived / sunned — he used false smiles and deceit. (iv) tempted — the bright apple tempted the foe to eat it. (v) outstretched — the foe was found lying outstretched beneath the tree.
(i) wrath (ii) concealed (or "hid") (iii) deceived (or "sunned") (iv) tempted (v) outstretched
Model answer (approx. 85 words): When the poet was angry with his friend he chose to express his feelings. He told his wrath to the friend, and as a consequence his anger ended and they reconciled. Open communication removed the bitterness; the poet's honest expression allowed the conflict to be settled quickly. This positive response shows that talking out problems dissolves anger, unlike hiding or nursing it. The poem uses this contrast to emphasise that communication heals while suppressed hatred grows.
The poet's anger with his friend ended because he communicated his feelings. He 'told his wrath' to his friend — spoke openly about the anger — and as a result the anger ceased. By expressing the grievance directly and honestly, the misunderstanding was resolved and friendship was restored. The poem contrasts this healthy resolution with the poet's failure to speak to his foe; with the friend he chose communication and reconciliation, which healed the relationship and ended the wrath.
Model answer (approx. 95 words): The poet allowed his anger to grow by keeping it hidden. He did not confess his feelings to his foe; instead he nurtured the wrath with fears and tears, daily brooding over it. He 'sunned' it with false smiles and 'soft deceitful wiles' — acts of hypocrisy that strengthened the hatred. This constant attention caused the anger to develop into a tree that produced a poisonous fruit. The poem shows how suppressed anger, continually nurtured, becomes more dangerous than anger that is expressed and resolved.
The poet's anger grew because he did not express it to his foe. Instead he concealed it, nursing it with fears and tears. He 'watered' the anger by brooding — night and morning he fed it with his anxieties and sorrow. He also pretended friendliness, smiling and using deceitful tricks to hide his real feelings, which further nourished the wrath. By giving attention and care to his anger it developed into a metaphorical tree that grew until it bore a poisonous apple, representing the harmful consequence of unspoken hatred.
Model answer (approx. 90 words): The apple — the product of the poet's nurtured anger — enticed the foe to steal out and eat it. The result was fatal or incapacitating: in the morning the foe lay outstretched beneath the tree, apparently dead or poisoned. The poem thus shows that suppressed anger becomes an instrument of harm. The speaker's pleasure at the foe's downfall also underscores the moral warning: nursing hatred can produce tragic consequences, and the speaker becomes complicit in that harm.
The poisonous fruit, the outcome of the poet's nurtured hatred, tempted the enemy to eat it secretly at night. After consuming the apple he was found the next morning lying outstretched beneath the tree — implying that the fruit poisoned or killed him. The poet felt glad on seeing his foe fallen, showing that the nurtured anger produced a harmful result. The episode illustrates how harboring malice can lead to destructive consequences for others and reveals the speaker's vindictive satisfaction at the foe's fate.
Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. In Blake's poem examples include: 'sunned...smiles' (repetition of 's') and 'bore...bright' (repetition of 'b'). The phrase 'my wrath' repeats the 'w' sound as well.
Examples of alliteration: "I sunned it with smiles" (s-s) and "Till it bore an apple bright" (b-b: bore/bright). Another is repeated 'my wrath' (w sound).
i. The line endings produce the rhymes: friend / end and foe / grow. ii. Assigning letters: line 1 (friend) = A, line 2 (end) = A, line 3 (foe) = B, line 4 (grow) = B, so the scheme is AABB. iii. The title 'A Poison Tree' is a metaphor: the poet's anger is compared to a poisonous tree without using 'like' or 'as'.
i. Rhyming words: 'friend' — 'end' and 'foe' — 'grow'. ii. Rhyme scheme: A A B B. iii. Figure of speech in the title: Metaphor (anger is presented as a 'Poison Tree').
The poet treats his anger as if it were a living plant that can be "watered" with fears and tears. Attributing a human/animate action to an abstract feeling is personification (it is also a metaphorical image).
Personification
1-c, 2-e, 3-b, 4-a, 5-d. Meditation helps calm the inner self; the person inside tells us how to act; getting angry is natural, but handling it is a virtue; anger releases tension when we address why we became angry; closing our eyes and speaking to ourselves helps us calm down.
1-c, 2-e, 3-b, 4-a, 5-d. Meditation helps calm the inner self; the person inside tells us how to act; getting angry is natural, but handling it is a virtue; anger releases tension when we address why we became angry; closing our eyes and speaking to ourselves helps us calm down.
Describes situation, immediate consequences (hurt relationships, poor teamwork) and shows how applying anger-management (breathing, pausing, calm communication, private discussion) would have produced a better outcome.
Sample answer (approx. 90 words):
I became angry when a classmate blamed me for a mistake I did not make. I spoke sharply and walked away; later the classmate avoided me and our teamwork suffered for a week. After reading anger-management guidelines, I realized I could have paused, taken deep breaths, and asked for details calmly. I should have expressed my feelings without accusing, and sought a private talk. Using meditation and counting to ten would have calmed me, preventing the breakdown in trust. Next time I will practise these steps to resolve issues constructively.
Explains likely cause (insult/betrayal), parallels with a personal experience, and shows the process by which suppressed anger turned into enmity—matching the poem’s theme.
Sample answer (approx. 90 words):
The poet's anger likely began with an insult, betrayal or deliberate hurtful action by his foe. He did not express his anger, so it festered and grew into hatred. Once I had a similar experience when a friend spread a false rumour about me. I felt shocked and betrayed, then silent anger turned into resentment. Because I didn’t confront them, I avoided them and thought ill of them, which widened the gap. Like the poem, unspoken wrath grew into lasting enmity; open communication could have stopped it early.
Provides 6 qualities with practical methods to develop them and typical challenges; suitable as a basis for group discussion and write-up.
Suggested qualities and brief methods/challenges:
1. Kindness — Practice small helpful acts daily; challenge: time and self-interest.
2. Honesty — Be truthful even in small matters; challenge: fear of consequences.
3. Respectfulness — Listen to others and value opinions; challenge: overcoming prejudice.
4. Reliability — Keep promises and be punctual; challenge: poor planning/habits.
5. Humility — Accept faults and credit others; challenge: ego and peer pressure.
6. Empathy — Try to understand others’ feelings; challenge: lack of exposure/insensitivity.
For each quality, groups should suggest concrete habits (journaling, role-play, feedback) and identify obstacles and solutions.
Gives a range of short, practical strategies adolescents can use to manage negative emotions and transform them into constructive outcomes.
Practical ways to convert negative feelings into positive actions:
- Pause and breathe: use deep-breathing or count-to-ten to avoid impulsive reactions.
- Reflect and reframe: identify the cause, then view the challenge as a learning opportunity.
- Express constructively: talk to a trusted friend, teacher or parent instead of bottling up.
- Channel energy: exercise, sports or creative activities to reduce stress.
- Set small goals: break problems into manageable steps to regain control.
- Practice gratitude and mindfulness: build emotional resilience.
- Seek help when needed: counselling or peer-support groups.