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by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann
I was angry with my friend
Language: English
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.
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Text Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The poison tree", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 21, first published 1794 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by William Alwyn (1905 - 1985), "The poison tree", 1933, from Songs of Experience, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by George Antheil (1900 - 1959), "A poison tree", 1948, from Songs of Experience, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Thomas) Athanasios Aronis (b. 1935), "A poison tree", from Blake Song Cycle, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ronald A. Beckett , "A poison tree", 2013 [ voice and piano ], from Eight Poems of William Blake, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Bolcom (b. 1938), "A poison tree", 1956-81 [ solo voices, chorus, and orchestra ], from Songs of Experience, Volume One, no. 14 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Hayg Boyadjian (b. 1938), "A poison tree", 1978 [ soprano, flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello and bass ], from Song Cycle on Poems of William Blake, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "A poison tree", op. 74 no. 6, from Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
- by (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "A poison tree", 1935 [ baritone and piano ], unpublished ; first setting [sung text not yet checked]
- by Elyse Donathan Curtis (b. 1929), "A poison tree", c1974, first performed 1974 [ medium voice, chorus, and piano ], from Nine Songs of William Blake, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sharon Davis (b. 1937), "A poison tree", op. 4 no. 2, published 1977 [ soprano and clarinet ], from Three Poems of William Blake, no. 2, Los Angeles : Avant Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ole Carsten Green (b. 1922), "The poison tree", op. 27a no. 21 (1973) [ voice and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 21 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Christine (Stadler) Jurasek (b. 1955), "A poison tree", 1988 [ voice and instrumental ensemble ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Tõnu Kalam , "A poison tree", 1966-7, first performed 1967 [ soprano and piano ], from A Garden of Experience, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Stevenson Kechley (b. 1947), "A poison tree", first performed 1974 [ soprano and strings ], from Faint Harps and Silver Voices, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by David Krane (b. 1953), "A poison tree", c1972 [ soprano and piano ], from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Beverly Jean Magnuson , "A poison tree", c1969 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sarah L. Rodgers (b. 1953), "A poison tree", first performed 1984 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Six Songs of Experience, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Masters van Someren-Godfery (d. 1947), "A poison tree", published c1952 [ voice and piano ], from Six Blake Songs, no. 6, London : Augener [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Austin Sykes (1909 - 1962), "The poison tree", c1931, first performed 1975 [ baritone and piano ], from Songs of Experience, no. 17 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "A poison tree", 1957, published 1958 [ voice and oboe ], from Ten Blake Songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Richard Wernick (b. 1934), "A poison tree", published 1979, first performed 1980 [ soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano ], Bryn Mawr : Th. Presser Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by James N. Wise (b. 1919), "A poison tree", published c1964 [ baritone and guitar ], NY : CFG Publ. Co. [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Un arbre empoisonné", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Ein Giftbaum", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 101
Ein Giftbaum
Language: German (Deutsch) after the English
Auf meinen Freund hatt’ ich ’ne Wut: Ich ließ sie raus, nun geht’s mir gut. Hab sie bei meinem Feind verhehlt, worauf sie weiter in mir schwelt. Mit bangen Tränen nährt ich sie am Abend und schon in der Früh, mit warmem Lächeln, sanftem Blick, mit Heuchelei, mit List und Tück. So wuchs die Wut am Tag, zur Nacht, bis pralle Frucht sie hat gebracht; mein Feind sah ihren hellen Schein, gewärtig, diese Frucht sei mein, er sich in meinen Garten stahl zur Nacht, die sternenlos zumal: Erfreut sah ich am nächsten Tag, den Feind, der unterm Baume lag.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in English by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The poison tree", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 21, first published 1794
This text was added to the website: 2014-05-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 99