O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
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THE SICK ROSE
From guest Mr Naveed Hasan (contact)
Fantastic Poem depicting whole the mind frame of the poet implicitly at the arrival of the industrial revolution.That the joy of the Rose is at risk...as it will be a sick rose soon because the materialism is gnawing it up.It is dwelling in its crimson joy (a pure heart i would say it otherwise) and thus destroying the lives. Its not only nature but also Take it to the personal grounds and you will see that The joy of Fraternity,Love,Confidence and mutual understanding amongst the dearest and closestests of the relations is marred by this INVISIBLE WORM in this HOWLING STORM OF THE MATERIALISTIC WORLD. Take it to other parallel grounds and we can see that Blake uses it to explain the secret love,the extra-marital love..which ruins the lives obviously it does when the confidence is betrayed by the wife or husband. In my point of view its a short but a versatile poem spanning from the grounds of nature from (O ROSE,INVISIBLE WORM,HOWLING STORM) to the human relationships love,hate,trust and betrayels. Its a lovely poem by a Great Poet. -
Alternative Analysis
From guest Rachel (contact)
I think the sick rose is, like most of Blake's poems, a comment on the society to his time. The Establishment (The church and the government) was corrupt, yet a large percentage of the population did not know this. The invisible worm can be seen as the corruption of the Establishment, and the Rose as the Church, which was beautiful on the outside but rotten in the inside. The joy would be Blake's joy that he found through God (although he believed in God, he hated the Church) which is tainted by the Church. This destroys his life, or alternatively, the corrupter's life for spoiling others'. -
its so intersting
From guest jimmy (contact)
The illustration that he did for this poem is also powerful. From the rose is shown the upper half of a woman. Her hands are outstretched, and it seems as if she is holding the worm. Where the puzzle pieces come are: two crying females (could they be the daughters?), the many thorns that failed to protect, and the healthy ground. This is the type of poem that will always solicit varied opinions because it is so well crafted. For me, I like to speculate about the tone of the one telling the rose it is sick. Was the tone in kindness? Diagnostic? Merciless? -
this poem makes me cry.
From guest taylor (contact)
the worm is any corrupting thing that destroys beauty by feeding off it, or maybe fucking it. like how innocence is destroyed by experience, or imagination is destroyed by logic. say it slowly.. damn. a fave. -
The Sick Rose
From guest Beth (contact)
A woman's life has been destroyed as the "invisible worm" is a man that has seen a girl and breaks into her home at night. "The howling storm" is her screams as he rapes her. The crimson joy symbolises her virginity which has just been taken from her. -
An attempt to analyze
From guest Muhammad Kamal (contact)
I think it stands for a violation to the social norms that has to take place in the darkness of the night. The choice of this time and describing the worm as " invisible" implies the accurance of something that defies the natural norms, which is probably the social ones in these poems. The "howling storm" is the soical taboos and convemtions that does not enable anything or anyone to violate it. So, this destructive union of life is the result of the social suffocation to the indiviadual's freedom, which is at hight in love. -
Nothing Sexual
From guest Derren Spade (contact)
The Poem does not really have much to do with sexual deeds or prostitutes,it just gives that connotation. this poem is in reference to the country England which at the time was known as the 'Rose' (hence why a rose is depicted on the England rugby jerseys). Blake was very critical of England and was even charged with high treason during his life. this poem is about England. -
From guest Sadie (contact)
The rose in this poem refers to a prostitute who has been infected with syphilis (a common disease in London at this time, 1794). This disease is represented by the phallic imagery of the 'invisible worm', an image that resonates with the Bibical serpent but which is also a common symbol of death and decay. The bed into which the worm creeps denotes both the natural flowerbed and the lovers bed. The disease 'flies in the night/in the howling storm', infecting the prositute during the secrecy of the night whilst the man and prostitute create 'the howling storm'of sex. The prositutes bed, the stage on which many sexual and perhaps passionate acts have transpired is described well through Blakes strong use of colour and imagery. It is on this bed 'of crimson joy' that the young woman becomes infected. The function of the prostitute is to fufill this mans 'dark, secret love'. This love is not pure and whole but dark and secret emphasizing further the use and role of the prostitute. The use of prostitutes was as it is now a common practise in London. Disturbingly, but most relevant to this poem was the recommendation by doctors of this time that men infected with sypilis to sleep with prositutes to satisfy themselves rather than infecting their wives. Blake himself was not an advocate of this practise and believed to risk the lives of these young women in this way to be shameful. I have always felt his compassionate description of the prostitute as a 'Rose' personifies not just the passionate and desirable qualities a man wants to believe a prostitute posseses but suggests at a deeper beauty. This poem is notoriously ambiguous in meaning but I have always found the above explanation to be the most satisfactory considering the social and historical context of the poem. Another explanation is that the rose's joyful attitute towards sex is tainted by the aura of shame and secrecy that our culture (particularly at that time) attatched to sex. This would reflect Blakes personal ideals well. Blake hated the church and the mental confines it instilled within people, (see his poem 'London') including the notion that sexual activity was a sin. Another explanation that ties in nicely with the poems placement in 'Songs of Experience' as opposed to 'Songs of Innocence' is that the disease caused by the worm destroys the flower just as the disease of sexual experience destroys innocence. -
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From guest Sonnet (contact)
I've always thought it was about loss of virginity. Which explains the blood of "crimson joy". He is condemning her for losing her virginity which would have been a popular attitude in Blake's day. -
nice
really nice poetry, although short, but really heart touching,
the invisible worm
that flies in the ight,
in the howling storm,
has found out thy bed
of crismos joy: -
The Sick Rose
From guest Mark (contact)
If you read through the whole poem its quite easy to understand it. It's simply to do with a sexual relationship, basically a sign of betrayel. The speaker had seduced a female and they had sex. Then the speaker is saying oh your sick to the person he has betrayed ie: Someone who obviously had deep affection for this female. The next lines are showing about his love and how much he enjoyed that night. Then his says about that mans secret love for the female did he destroy and abloish right behind his back. -
AFFAIR??
From guest Jenna (contact)
I believe that this poem is about a couple whos relationship has been destroyed by an affair. The rose symbolizes the relationship and the worm and dark secret love is another woman that the man is cheating with. -
The sick rose
Blake has shown us a compassionate way of viewing
Rose! -
Bed Bugs
From guest Kate de Jude (contact)
My most recent experience of the terror of the night, bed bugs tells me this poem is about those insidious vampirish bugs which seem invisible yet nightly finds one's bed and destroys even the simplest pleasures. Kate -
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rape
From guest caity (contact)
this poem can be interpreted different ways, as with all poems. i interpret it as a woman after bieng raped. his love is her destruction. -
Brilliant. The band Coil do a wonderful job of placing these words to music too.
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essay
From guest rukhsar (contact)
omg this essay is kool but can u put sum info about the sick rose - imagary of Destruction.. fankssss or send it to me email addy which is below -
This is a poem that could stay with a person for a lifetime. In just 34 words, Blake masters the craft of a multi-layers piece of work. The illustration that he did for this poem is also powerful. From the rose is shown the upper half of a woman. Her hands are outstretched, and it seems as if she is holding the worm. Where the puzzle pieces come are: two crying females (could they be the daughters?), the many thorns that failed to protect, and the healthy ground.
This is the type of poem that will always solicit varied opinions because it is so well crafted.
For me, I like to speculate about the tone of the one telling the rose it is sick. Was the tone in kindness? Diagnostic? Merciless? -
this poem has such a great first line! not to mention the wondeful imagery, bed of crimson joy. . .it's beautifuly grotesque- perfecton!
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perhaps this poem is about rape, and the life destroyed is the violated womans hapiness and vitality
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A rose can have a lot of meanings. In this poem the rose could stand for a beautiful woman, because the rose is a symbol of love, loyalty and beauty. It is normally a peaceful symbol that stands for something good. But it could also have another meaning. It could be painful or dubious because the rose, although beautiful, has thorns that can draw blood. The word sick is pretty obvious and can just mean the rose has an illness. But it could also mean mentally sick or corrupt.
“The invisible worm” is the second line. A worm is a symbol of something destructive, which eats nice things. Invisible means it cannot be seen or heard. If the worm was in some soil it couldn’t be seen or heard. I think Blake deliberately used a worm because it eats plants like roses. It could eat a rose from inside and if you saw the rose it would look perfectly healthy. You wouldn’t know there was a worm in it until it was too late. So the worm would be invisible.
The third line “That flies in the night,” reinforces the idea of silence and invisibility. But it is also showing that it spreads quickly like a disease. “In the howling storm” makes it sound evil and scary. But again the worm would not be seen or heard in a loud storm, and there is a strong sense of confusion. The word howling tells you that it is a strong storm.
The fifth line which is the first of the second stanza “Has found out thy bed” is telling us that the worm has found the rose bed. In this line “thy” if referring to the rose. A bed is somewhere where we feel safe and out of harm’s way or we would not be able to sleep. But it is also a place where we are most vulnerable because we are not conscious of things happening around us while we sleep. So the fifth line is about the rose being vulnerable.
“Of crimson joy” is the sixth line. A lot of people think that this line is about sex. But crimson is also the colour of blood.
The seventh line “And his dark secret love” could also refer to sex. Except, again, it seems to be a bad and sinister love that is illegal and has to be carried out in secret. “His” refers to the worm.
The last line “Does thy life destroy” is something about death. It could mean that the worm has killed or destroyed the rose. The word destroy has the opposite meaning to life and is almost and oxymoron.
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One of my favourite poems of all times. I agree with all that's been said about multiple meanings- the sick rose is probably both a flower and a woman, and that only adds to the significance and beauty of this rather short, yet really nice poem. It one of the few ones I have learnt by heart as soon as I read it, like "this is it"
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I'm a great fan of multiple meanings and hidden metaphors and I agree with Pozo in saying that there appear to many levels of understanding in this piece, and that's Blake packed so much profundity into such a short piece, rather then stretching it out over an epic or whatnot. He provoked thought without sacrificing focus, or losing control of the piece. As many poems do. This is clearly the work of a master, which he obviously is.
Grazia
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This is a wonderful poem I like the way it could symbolise many things, the rose could be a woman and the worm could be seen as many things. The worm could be seen as the penis or a symbol for the Serphant in the Fall (worm used to be the translation) I like the pathetic falacy, the anthrophomorphism and the symbolism in this poem. I like how short it is and yet Blake managed to make a profound poem. This is a good poem
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excellent
I liked this style! -
One of my all-time favorites. ~CWM
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lovely boy, quite divine
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