William Blake- The Sick Rose

William Blake- The Sick Rose

The outer shell of the poem tells the story of how a rose has been infected by an invisible worm which was blown into the bed of petals (much to its joy and relief) within a storm. This worm is consequently killing the rose by residing within it.

If we look beyond the surface we can see that the image of the worm and flower may stand as a very vivid metaphorical cover for a story. The idea of the flower makes us think of a woman, as it stands as a romantic and classically feminine image. This flower is ruined and killed by the invasion of this worm, which we could see as representing a man. If a woman became seduced by a man, letting him into her life it was easy for her to become ruined by him. Left to rot and wither once the man had taken from her what he needed.

The mention of the rose being ‘sick’ could refer to perhaps being sick within its mind to let the worm come to it for relief from the storm, allowing itself to be used as a sacrifice for the survival of a parasite. It could also be merely referring to the damage done to it, as the tone appears somewhat pitying of the flower ‘O Rose, thou art sick’. The reference to the bloom as ‘Rose’ and not by another name such as ‘flower’ also shows us how it could be a woman, as Rose is also a woman’s name.

The use of the word ‘crimson’ has connotations of passion and love, however the colour is also harsh and dark, making us think of blood. The rose is dying, perhaps bleeding to death. The mention of the worm finding ‘thy bed of crimson joy’ also shows us how the rose, or woman’s fall from grace was from giving in to the man sexually as her downfall was due to her ruin. The use of the word ‘joy’ also is very representative of the story, we see that perhaps the rose was fooled, manipulated or tricked by this metaphor of the man.

The final stanza is fairly similar to what we might see as an abusive relationship, as the concept of love is still contained, yet one party is fading away at the use of the other ‘And his dark secret love does thy life destroy.’ The rose may not even be noticing it’s dying and being sick, explaining how we hear the voice telling it that it is so, showing a naïve, oblivious form of love that disregards all personal feelings for the benefit of the lover. The sheer extreme of placing all you love above yourself, not noticing the damage it does to you behind the scenes as you see nothing but the other and their wellbeing as important. In this sense it is as if the worm has infected the very mind of the rose itself.