<P> "A Poison Tree" is a poem written by William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his Songs of Experience collection . It describes the narrator's repressed feelings of anger towards an individual, emotions which eventually lead to murder . The poem explores themes of indignation, revenge, and more generally the fallen state of mankind . </P> <P> The Songs of Experience was published in 1794 as a follow up to Blake's 1789 Songs of Innocence . The two books were published together under the merged title Songs of Innocence and Experience, showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul: the author and printer, W. Blake featuring 54 plates . The illustrations are arranged differently in some copies, while a number of poems were moved from Songs of Innocence to Songs of Experience . Blake continued to print the work throughout his life . Of the copies of the original collection, only 28 published during his life are known to exist, with an additional 16 published posthumously . Only 5 of the poems from Songs of Experience appeared individually before 1839 with "A Poison Tree" first published in the 1830 London University Magazine . </P>

What does a poison tree by william blake mean