"The Sick Rose"

This is a short poem by William Blake that I found in our poetry packet. It's on page 79.  I paraphrased it in my own words in blue, and then wrote a little explanation below.

The Sick Rose - William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick!        A dying rose!
The invisible worm,            A sneaky worm
That flies in the night,        That travels at night
In the howling storm,          In a bad storm

Has found out thy bed         Finds its home in the rose,
Of crimson joy;                  A red rose;
And his dark secret love     And the worm's presense in the rose
Does thy life destroy.         Has killed it.

 

As one can assume, the red rose symbolizes love, and the worm represents death and or decay--the rose becomes almost infected by the worm.  The worm is also described as "invisible" which may suggest that the rose is not aware of the worm's harm, or better yet, love is unaware of sickness or hardships.

"thy bed" can refer to both the flower bed itself, or even a lover's bed.  It's as if sickness and death is sneaky when it enters a lover's bed? I'm not even going to go there... 

Comments

[Katie H.]

Emma I agree with you on the poems meaning and I liked how you interpreted the "invisible" worm with love being invisible to hardships; I did not catch that the first time I read this poem. I also thought this poem was interesting because of its extended metaphor and the authors ability to convey a large meaning in such few words.

[Patricia V.]

I agree with your analysis Emma. I also think that the poem deals with a loss of innocence and this loss of innocence is what causes the sickness of the rose.

[Emily A.]

I agree with Katie and like your interpretation of the poem. Just to add on though the words "that flies in the night" can refer to the loss of time during the hours that a person sleeps - the hardship of death's approach. The "howling storm" and "has found out thy bed of crimson joy" conveys the loss of innocence Patricia mentioned as like two people in bed at night and a loss of virginity in blood.

[saja]

I don't agree with you on this.This poem have tow meaning one of them is what you are saying and the other is that he is addressing a woman her name is rose and the invisible worm is the love of a strange man and this love has destroyed her and made her sick