A Poison Tree
by William Blake
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 watered it in fears
Night and 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 veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
Read this line from the last stanza from "A Poison Tree."
When the night had veiled the pole;
What is the meaning of the figurative language in this line?
A veiled cloud cover makes the night very dark.
The night is dark because it is veiled in misty fog.
The darkened sky conceals the stars and the moon.
The dark night obscures the pole, or North star.