Module 1: Assignment 2

Ellen Wetli
H101-F
Laura Mandell
Module 1-Assignment 2

Many aspects of anger are concealed when we limit its meaning to fire or dynamite. Even though fire refers to heat and the ‘anger is heat’ metaphor covers a vast majority of the facets of anger, it still hides some other characteristics of anger. Anger can be an internal struggle. When a person “explodes with rage,” he/she is no longer “wrestling with his/ her anger.” Another example of a characteristic of anger which is concealed by the metaphoric fire and heat analogy is insanity, such as “If he yells at me one more time, I’m going to go crazy.” Both of these examples are metaphoric characteristics of anger that are concealed when we automatically assign anger to relate to fire or dynamite. However, William Blake offered the metaphor anger is an apple tree in “A Poison Tree.” He states that with each passing day his anger “grows” such as a tree maturing to eventually bear fruit. Establishing this connection opens many doors to what aspects of anger this metaphor pertains to. For starters, the metaphor anger is internal pressure can apply to this poem. Instead of telling his enemy that the narrator is angry with him, the narrator held it in and his “wrath did grow,” as would a gas pocket in someone’s intestines or another medical phenomenon that would put a great amount of internal pressure on the rest of our organs. Another example of a metaphor that is now highlighted by Blake’s new definition is anger is fluid in a container. Blake is “filled with anger” because he cannot “spill it” to his enemy. These metaphors are similar to how fluid in a container is characterized, and many more metaphors about fluid in a container can apply to this situation. Yet another example of a highlighted metaphor is anger is a burden. He narrated how his anger grew and grew with his tears and how it consumed him. He “carried” his anger around with him everywhere, similar to any sort of burden one would carry with him/her. Similar to this metaphor, another, anger is a presence, could also be highlighted in this situation. Because he didn’t tell his enemy about his anger, it “lingered on” for days. This characteristic is similar to any sort of presence in our life. These presences can be another emotion such as misery lingering in our bodies after a loved one has died or even a tangible sensation such as the warmth lingering on one’s lips after a lover’s kiss. Anger can also linger in one’s thoughts and actions. Blake’s metaphor, anger is an apple tree, can also hide some aspects of anger. Primarily, fire and an explosion are two of the most common aspects of anger. Another metaphor hidden by Blake’s new definition is anger being a dangerous animal. Blake’s metaphor does not focus on the dynamic force of what anger can become. He focuses more on how bottling the anger inside us slowly leads to the destruction of ourselves and others.
Ordinarily, we would say sentences pertaining to plants and fruit when we would use Blake’s definition of anger metaphorically being an apple tree. For example, we might say “Jericho’s lashing words were sprouting from her intense anger,” or “ His intense anger absorbed every lie his cheating girlfriend said and stored it.” ‘Stored,’ in this text, would actually be the metaphoric anger as a container. William Blake actually used on of these metaphoric statements in his poem when he said that his fears watered his anger. Some other sentences we might say pertaining primarily to the apple would be “His anger tasted the sweet taste of revenge when he went out and cheated on his cheating girlfriend,” or “Her annoyance ripened into full blown rage when her brother continued to pester her all afternoon then steal her favorite movie.” We can us many different metaphoric characteristics of anger to portray the exact emotion we want the reader to feel or we want to feel ourselves.