Question

instructions: read this passage and select the best answer. bubble it on your answer sheet on the corresponding space for each question. answers recorded on this packet will not be scored.
passage 5: a poison tree by william blake, 1794
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 water’d it in fears,
night & 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 veil’d the pole;
in the morning glad i see
my foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.

1. which inference about the speaker of the poem is best supported by the text?

a. the speaker steals an apple from his foe’s garden.

b. the speaker is a gardener.

c. the speaker is consumed by anger and bitterness.

d. the speaker doesn’t have many friends.

Explanation:

• Option A: The poem says the foe stole into the speaker's garden, not the speaker stealing from the foe. Eliminate A.
• Option B: The "garden" and "tree" are metaphors for anger, not literal gardening. Eliminate B.
• Option C: The speaker's wrath grows as they nurture it with fears, tears, and deceit, leading to the foe's death. This shows anger and bitterness consume them.
• Option D: The poem only mentions one friend and one foe; no info on the number of friends. Eliminate D.

Answer:

C. The speaker is consumed by anger and bitterness.