The Sick Rose

The poem is about a secret affair a man has that essentially ruins his wife and family's life. Blake advokates the idea that human nature should be free, and fought to abolish marriage and monogomous relationships because he felt that once people were told what to do, then they would want to rebel. In his time, many men would have secret affairs with trashy women or hookers, contract diseases, and bring it back to their innocent and unsuspecting wives. This concept is also discussed in Blake's London. The "dark secret love" that Blake speaks of is the forbidden affair that essentially "destroys" the woman. The worm is also a symbol of phallus that represents the deceptive and corruptive male.

I think the poem is about death. To begin with, death is invisible as emphasized in the line of the "invisible worm that flies at night....that has found thy bed".Also, the first lines probably mean that this sick person is dying and whatever the disease or the virus or bacteria that causes the illness is invisible to the naked eye( "invisible worm.."). The paradox "of crimson joy" could mean that death is both sad, depressing but at the same time joyful because it relieves this person from the pain of life and the disease itself. The last lines can be connected to the first line when this person is being compared to a rose:which is a beautiful, passionate flower, maybe representing what this person was before death arrived at his/her bed and destroyed her/his life.

i find this poem an attention-grabing one.it implies a woman being fooled by a somebody. It could be that she feel sick because of shame. it was hard for her to know the truth that the guy she loved never really loved her in return.She was so convinced at first that the guy truly loves her and later discover that she was being fooled. It was late for she had surrender her being a woman to the said guy. She loses something precious , her virginity. She regret of what she had done. She felt pity for herself.The last line emplies destruction and end of ones life. it also implis that the woman's faith was shaking. it was really hard for her to recover.however, i find hope in the first line of the poem. Someone still loves and respect her despite of shameful things that happen to her...

One of my Blakian pet hates is this poem and contemporary criticisms fascination on analysing it as sex and love gone wrong. This is by no means correct (though, by rights, could be).

The rose is a symbol of many, many things, not just of love and beauty.

To give one opinion, given the political poise on Blake's writings at this time, the Rose could be representative of England. The worm, in this time period, was another way of refering to a serpent; which of course has the biblical reference ot the Garden of Eden, corruption of Adam and Eve and the devil.

Given Blake's disillusionment with it, it is reasonable to say this is possibly an attack on the established church at the time, accusing of it acting like a canker on a rose: corrupting Britain from the centre before it blooms. Which, of course, is pretty much what he believed.

With so many comments claiming in black and white that the rose refers to a women or love, it's important to be reminded that this is not only one of Blake's shortest poems, but, by most people's thoughts, his most complicated.

My advice for analysing this poem: Kind an open mind and never foget there is no correct answer. When answering an exam, it is a good idea to show you're aware of this, even if you're answer only focuses on on interpretation.

It is not possible to place a poem of this stature in one genre. I think that it was written for this purpose, to be viewed in many different ways. In my opinion "The Sick Rose" is about a twisted love triangle. According to Blake's dictionary a rose is symbolic of the jelous wife. The worm according to blake is the lowest form of life. I see the rose as a wife whom is very deeply in love with her husband, whom is cheating on her with a prostitute, whom resembles the invisible worm. She is appropriately named the invisible worm because she is never seen. The pain from knowing but not knowing at the same time is killing her inside. Her bed or place of joy is her marriage which she thought protected her from this pain. His dark secret love is her husbands love for this lifestyle. This is how I see it and it is interesting to view other opinions as long as they can be backed up.

The poem “The Sick Rose” by William Blake is a powerful poem about love and beauty, and lust and corruption. It is about an innocent woman losing her innocence to an unfaithful, dishonest man, and then feels ashamed about it. The poem consists of carefully chosen symbols to draw emotion from the reader.
The first symbol introduced in this poem is the rose, the rose is associated with love and beauty, it has life and love. It has a positive connotation and draws good emotions. The worm is the second symbol, it is associated with corruption, and cunningness and deception. Contrary to the rose, the worm has a negative connotation and it draws hateful emotions from the reader. Another symbol is the crimson joy. It is defined by the line that precedes this symbol: “Has found out they bed”. In this context “crimson joy” represents the man’s pleasure on the count of the woman’s loss of innocence.
The last two lines of this poem “And his dark secret love/Does they life destroy” actually tell the reader that the rose has been violated by the worm thus making the rose “Sick”. The combinations of these symbols give meaning to the title of this poem “The Sick Rose”.

I had to explicate this poem... so i posted it here to share with other people. Comments are welcome!

I would simply like to add an additional layer to this fine poem of Blake's. A sexual metaphor it might be, as well as a social commentary, but Blake was also a visionary and a mystical master. The rose is present in much western spiritual allegory. Since the alledged aim of the Songs was to show the two contrary states of the human soul, it only makes sense to contemplate this work as a spiritual message as well. In fact, reading the sexual and the spiritual together, can we not envision Blake's plan for liberation?
Like much great work, this poem can be taken on many levels. The important thing to consider, in my opinion, is the possibility of a comprehensive meaning intended by the author.

well, when i first read this poem it was like an entire story was unfolding before me. i think part of my guesswork is just from my imagination. but i thought of the sick rose as a woman, and the worm as not a man but an emotion, depression. i thought that she was depressed because she is not in love, or that if she is then her love does bot feel the same way for her in return.the howling storm could be all the side emotions whirling around in her head, just so confusing that it seems like her brain is howling, completely chaotic.
the next lines, has found thy bed of crimson joy... she may be trying to satisfy herself by immorality, just sleeping with any man she can, but it is really tearing her apart because it can't satisfy her want of true love and is only making her feel worthless, and is ultimately destroying her life.

1 O Rose, thou art sick!
Begins with a statement of fact.

2 The invisible worm
Is now referring to the penis of a visitor.

3 That flies in the night,
Comes in darkness to a child’s room.

4 In the howling storm,
Sudden changes in her life.

5 Has found out thy bed
Has found discovered her vulnerable

6 Of crimson joy:
Reference to the adult context, for the reader.

7 And his dark secret love
Ugly selfish passion of the perpetrator.

8 Does thy life destroy.
It most certainly does.

The meaning is ambiguous to most people, but to those who have been with a molested child as an adult, no other interpretation is possible. The harm is unthinkable, all the healing models we use do not work when the victim is a young child, and the spouse is a victim as well. The harm often goes beyond their generation. “Does thy life destroy,” is written with terrible conviction.

I have much the same view on this poem as other commenters, that the peom is reffering to unwanted sex. However I feel that it need not only be the molestation of a child that is being described, but simply all manners in which men seek out and get sex which is not freely given. It i smost certaintly about a female being forced by a male, which is made clear by the words 'rose' and 'worm'. If you look at the comment made be Ron of United States, most of his comments are true. However, I feel Blake is referring to not only molestation but rape and the pressuring of woman to give herself to the man she is with. It is interesting to note that it is her that is made "sick' in the eyes of society, where as the worm who did this to her is 'invisible'. It is also sad that he destroys her life, and I think the reader is suppose to feel complete and total disgust for the worm, which I'm sure we all do. Perhaps Ron you could try and think of whether my comment has any bearing.

i have chosen to analyse this poem as a source text for a text transformation for my a level english coursework. After close analysis of the poem i have chosen to use the idea that the poem is closely related to deceit however i also believe that another strong idea is rape and loss of virginity. I am basing the poem on deceit using the idea that the sick rose, has become frail and withered much liek a dying rose beacause of the effect that love has had upon her. love works like an illness causing people into a state of grief.("sick")This love can blind the truth "invisble worm that flies in the night"represents the betrayal and deceptive actions of the man linked to the rose-woman.The howling storm represents the craziness that the woman suffers in her mind. her bed of crimson joy is happiness that there sex life once was, but the deceit/affair "dark secret love" has now destroyed her life.the woman is compared to a rose because it is a rare blossomed beauty, but one which dies quickly. Although she is beautiful she cannot hold onto her man, looks cannot make love last. i also believe that the woman wil take her life because of the love she gave but never truly had herself.What are your views?

Amazingly, I have seen no sign of a reference to this poem's companion poem - 'The Blossom' in the collection 'Songs of Innocence'. If you read that and consider them both, you will understand them much better.

'The Blossom' is about sexual awakening - the robin is a young woman who has had intercourse with the sparrow's arrow (a phallus). Here, Blake celebrates sexuality and writes almost as though he is seeking to comfort young women who are confused by such an experience.

In contrast to this, Blake in 'The Sick Rose' of 'Songs of Experience' presents sexual development or loss of virginity as a destructive force, which inevitably leads to a loss of innocence.

These are two opposing theories represent contrary states - the whole idea of Blake's poetry. Which one did he subscribe to? Did he lie somewhere in the middle? I don't know. There's loads of different interpretations other than this, which is why Blake's poetry is so good, but so frustrating. I could be wrong about the whole thing, though, and I'm sure someone will say that I am.

the sick rose is about rape, and the treachery of awakening to sexual feelings. I feel it comments subtley about female\male relationships. The invisble worm is the sexual thought, the sexual desire, "flying through the night", "howling in the wind" these feelings rampage through a person. It is the primitive want, the bestial lust that needs to be satiated, as opposed to the blossom which celebrates sexuality. This thought, desire, lust becomes monstrously distorted...prehaps into an obsession for this rose, this woman..."crimson joy" represents an act of violence. I don't think this poem is about rape but rather the desire to rape, and i think blake almost blames women and pities them at the same time for arousing this urge in the "dark secret lover", hence "o rose thou art sick". Another reason why i came to this reading is because the worm can be seen as a phallic symbol. To me it conjures images of sickness, death, decay. BUT it is an invisible worm...so it represents the thought or the desire to act in this way. Whoever thought rape could almost be beautiful? A lot of writers who composed poetry or prose, romanticised the idea of rape. i think blake was looking at sexual relations and male\female relationships within binary oppositions...and the sick rose is everything that the blossom is not.

Well could the rose and worm not represent a large aray of things, not just the simple act of sex.

Yes indeed the poem is heavily loaded with sexual imagery; the worm may act as a phallic symbol whereby its destruction of the Rose reflects the oppressive nature of men on a conventional symbol of love and feminine purity..but i feel there must be more.

Blake, with his fascination for open relationships, may be exploring into what exactly the confines and limitations of relationships are; not sharing with mutual respect but rather, "dark secret", sadomasochistic.
Alternatively, there even may be a religous reading. The Rose is often a symbol of biblical purity and the worm, interchangable with the serpent of Genesis and thereby the devil is an "invisible" force that is able to destruct this. The use of archaic language perhaps reinforces this notion.

But if we really want to delve into context, even Britain may be the subject of this poem. The Rose-an emblem of the nation-is under threat from the industrial revolution, economic exploitation (things Blake detested). The worm, quinessentially earthbound does the same ol thing every day; it has one purpose: to move through the soil. This repetitive and ongoing nature of the worm symbolises this urbanisation perfectly.

But, I spose its up to the reader...you horny bastards lol

I'm surprised that no one has considered the tone of the speaker. Is it one of condemnation? Mocking? Sorrow? Information only? Who is the speaker? All of these questions plus looking at the illustration that Blake did for this poem help the reader understand that there truly is a multi-layered approach to this poem. In our time, one could link it to the effects of HIV/AIDS: it destroys or alters the quality of life. The "howling storm" could suggest mental illness. Anyone that has spent time with bi-polar people, or people that suffer from Alzheimer's knows how erratic behavors can be displaed. Could the poem be reflective of the Industrial Revolution? Yes. Even today, there are numerous people that are not comfortable with the varied technologies that are available. Imagine Blake's world shifting towards machines, the increased levels of pollution, the pulling away of the "simple" country life. Furthermore, the poem can be read as a circle of life. All things come to an end. Consider that the thorns did not protect the rose.
What is of interest to me is that in the illustration, only the rose is bent. The ground, which is the "bed" of the rose, is healthy.
For an eight line poem, there is much to be discovered!
Have fun expanding your thoughts about this poem. If you use any of these ideas in your paper, make sure to cite it properly! English teachers are savvy!

I believe this poem was created on the AGEE OF ROMANTICISM...William Blake along with William Wordsworth,Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats,and Samuel Coleridge genre...ALL OF WHICH ARE POST Revolutionary War or post Modernism works...These poem describes the perceiver of the art to understand that this is not the the art itself but the artist to be interpreted at.
Rose indicates the government on that time and how the system was plague with worm or "THE CANCER OF SOCIETY" corruptions of aristocrat, hostility and suppresion by the government...This era is the most melancholic time of history that is why it was called Romanticism because there was a lot of Rights neglected by the human eye that a genius individual beholds.These era was well explained by this single poem,ROSE (which is the government that is so sick)...plague by the worm who is the corrupted officials that flies by the night when everyone sleeps(when no one notices) in a time that is chaotic full of storm,PERSONAL INTEREST interpreted under the BED OF CRIMSON JOY which is the land and the desire for the nation to GROW and EXPAND destroyed THE ARTISTS RIGHTS, passion for human rights...

To analyze this poem is very difficult and almost impossible because it seems that William Blake wrote this with the fear of the authorities of that time so we should take the historical background of the time it was written at our consideration in order to try to analyze this poem........
William Blake at that time was hostile to the Church of England so i believe that with the word (WORM) in the poem Blake refers a reverend or a church responsible who was making love with an under-aged girl (DARK SECRET LOVE)........
I'm not saying my analysis is the right one but whoever wants to analyze this poem needs to study both Blake's life and as I mentioned above and England's history at that time.......