The second verse focuses on the comparison between anger and the development of a fruit. It shows how the poet consciously “waters” his anger and allows it to progress. The tone of the poem changes in this second verse from child like and sweet to subtly devious and evil. The second two lines both have a hissing effect (sibilance)(“…sunned it with smiles”, “…soft deceitful wiles.”) This is effective in portraying the changing tone and would have been particularly so in the eighteenth century Britain when it written. As hissing noises are associated with serpents which have evil implications in religion, the introduction of this sibilance is able to communicate the growing evil side of the story. Metaphorically, at this point, the seed of anger had been planted and has grown into a shoot.
By verse three the anger has, in keeping with the metaphor, grown into an apple. This apple that symbolizes his anger is described and bright. This positive adjective shows how the poet is beginning to enjoy and admire this growing hatred. The tone becomes unnerving.
The final passage concludes the story of how the poet allowed his anger to develop beyond his control. The language is used to portray how strongly the poet wishes for something bad to happen. By this verse the subject has become tainted and evil. The scene is described as being almost beautiful. “When the night had veiled the poles”, we picture a dark decaying sky. The sun has gone down on his enemy for the last time. We can see by this point the subject has lost all morality and revels in the success of anger. The poet is “glad” that his foe is dead. This completes the picture of a tall poisonous tree that has been allowed to grow, and the dead person “outstretched” beneath it to show the results of growing anger.
You in Anger, however, does not tell the story of a chain of events. It is more of a reflection of events of the past. Its theme is the results of anger and what it can do to people. It also contrasts with Poison tree in that it tells how two people who have been very close to each other let their anger interfere.
The language is, like its subject, complex and indirect. Again it is in rhyming couplets. In this poem, however, the rhyming couplets are to symbolize how people make simple situations complicated. This poem also differs from Poison Tree in that the poem is obviously of a very personal content, we can see this from the content and language. For example, the usage of ‘You.’ The individual that the poet constantly addresses as ‘you’ is obviously someone very dear to them. The writer’s lament is emphasized by his quotations. Like lovers often do he replays things that were said aloud.
The first verse shows how they began to grow tired of each other and as a result a small amount of anger destroyed all their hard work over the years. In this verse we can see from the language that the writer is bitter. For example, when the writer describes love to be infectious. The adjective, infectious, by definition means that something is liable to be transmitted through the environment. It shows how, at this point, the writer sees love to be terrible disease that can be caught without permission, and is hard o get rid of.
By the second verse we can see that the writer realises the consequences of loosing his love; again we see this through the use of language. He realises the potential danger of the situation, and thus describes their position as being “in mortal danger.” We also see how strong his feelings are as he tells how he is prepared to ‘risk everything’ to save them.
The last verse concludes that the anger must not be forgotten or repented as it may have had positive consequences and that although they may have hated each other, this hate only resulted in the realisation of how deep their love truly is.
You in Anger and Poison Tree both share the theme that you must confront your anger and be open about it. In Poison Tree, we see what effects it can have on you and others if you let your anger progress further by not facing it. In You in Anger we see that in letting you anger be known there can be positive consequences and things may not only return to how they were before, but may be even better.
