In “The Sick Rose”, by Blake, the
poet uses an invisible worm to suggest the corruption of the rose. As the worm
eats away at the flower, it become sick and eventually dies, symbolizing the
rose’s corruption by the worm. This poem can be compared to the Lamb and Tiger
poems, in that this is also a poem centered around innocence and corruption.
The further I examined the poem, the muddier my understanding became. At first,
I was convinced the rose was being destroyed by the worm but as I read on I
wondered if maybe “Rose” is actually a person, and the physical flower
represented her. Then what does the worm represent? I then considered maybe
Rose was a wife, possibly Blake’s wife even, and she had come down with a nasty
flu or a disease of some sort and that was her corruption.
The worm could even symbolize the
speaker of the poem, meaning the speaker could be the corrupter of his wife,
Rose, or even their love. In literate, a rose is used to symbolize love, and
the speaker speaks of infection of love or to love by doing so, the poem
implies that love itself is sick. Also, the rose (Rose or “love”) is not aware
of its infection because one, the worm is invisible and two, the worm only does
its work in the night. This could mean multiple things, one being that love is
unaware of its own decay or two that love’s secrecy leads to its downfall. The
reason love is oblivious to its demise is because it is blinded by its beauty
and idealist view put on it by society meaning society paints a clear picture
of what love “should be” and what love “has to be”, that people don’t know what
love “really is.” With this self inflicted blindness, society tends to
misunderstand love and eventually kill it with knowing.
Much like the other pieces in the Songs of
Experience, this poem is brief, with two stanzas. The poem
deviates from the Innocence rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD to the rhyme scheme, ABCB
DEFE. The rhyme scheme is dark and foreboding. The length and meter of “The
Sick Rose” are two key indicators of the foreshadowing destruction and the secretive
yet a sense of joy which brings upon shame. The poem ends with a juxtaposition
of romantic and destructive images – the first a “crimson bed of joy” and the
second a life destroyed. This leaves the idea that something of value and
purity has been successfully tracked, threatened, infected and then destroyed.