"A Poison Tree"

 Which of the following best describes a major theme of the poem?

• Deceitful people are always punished by their own trickery.

• Envy and greed can permanently damage a relationship.

• Bottling up one's feelings leads to resentment and even violence.

• A healthy friendship is built on trust and communication.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.9

CCSS.RI.11-12.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

How do the speaker's actions in the first stanza provoke action in the poem?

• The speaker expresses their anger to their friend but withholds this anger from their foe, creating some tension between the friend and the foe. 

• The speaker tricks the foe into trusting them by hiding their anger in the first stanza and offering the foe a poisoned apple later on in the poem

• The speaker does not express their anger to their foe, and because of this, their anger worsens until it eventually grows into a poisonous tree.

• The speaker acts differently towards their friend than their foe, which makes the foe jealous and pushes them to steal from the speaker.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

What impact does the figurative language in lines 5-8 have on the poem's meaning?

• The speaker's wrath ripens like a piece of fruit that, like the foe, is outwardly beautiful but inwardly rotten.

• The speaker tends to their wrath like a plant, implying that the speaker actually does care for the foe because of all of the attention they pay to them.

• The speaker's wrath grows every time their foe smiles at or acts kindly towards the speaker, which suggests that nothing can overcome hatred.

• The speaker tends to their wrath like a plant that later produces a poisoned fruit, implying that anger can feel satisfying but is toxic to let grow. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The speaker deals with their anger by…

• telling both their friend and their enemy that they are angry.

• telling their friend that they are angry, but not by telling their enemy.

• not telling either their friend or their enemy that they are angry.

• not telling their friend that they are angry, and by telling their enemy instead.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

What happens to the speaker's anger towards their enemy, or foe?

• It decreases as time goes on.

• It dies from being watered too much.

• It worsens as the speaker becomes more afraid.

• It grows just like a plant does.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

Which definition best fits the word bore as it is used in line 10?

1) v. to make someone feel weary and uninterested

2.) n. a tedious situation

3.) v. to produce something

4.) v. to hold up or support

• Definition 1

• Definition 2

• Definition 3

• Definition 4

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4