A rhyme system is a simple way to stop the discomfort of a poem. When the reader reads the poem in its full, it becomes clear that "A Poison Tree" is only a symbolic term. The poem begins with someone venting his rage on a buddy. Then, the speaker realizes what he's done and goes over the incident in his mind while at the same time lamenting the lost opportunity for reconciliation. The rhyme scheme helps keep the meter consistent throughout the poem. It also gives the reader clues about how the poem should be read. A line of poetry consists of two stressed syllables followed by an unstressed one: "foxy lady" > "foxiness lady" > "fair lady". Stress changes the meaning of a word or phrase and indicates how parts of speech are used in a sentence. In general, nouns are the most common form of words, followed by verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Nouns are divided into three groups based on their function in a sentence: subject, object, and modifier. Objects take what has been given to them and modify other objects or people. Subjects are the actors or performers in an event or situation. Modifiers describe something about the subject or its relationship to others (for example, strong, weak, big, small). Rhyming schemes consist of patterns of repeated sounds or words.