The Sick Rose

This poem is formed by 2 stanzas. In the first line Blake applies a metaphor. He uses a rose to refer to woman. Roses represent love, purity, and innocence, but he says that this rose is sick. The rose has been infected or corrupted by an invisible worm which can be linked to a man. The author says this worm flies in the night and in the howling storm in order to describe the evil or bad intentions he has that cannot be seen easily.

In the second stanza, Blake states that the worm has found her bed of crimson joy.  The found bed and crimson joy mean that the worm has been able to gain her love and even her chastity. In the last two lines, Blake describes this love as being secret and dark which is destroying the rose’s life. The darkness can be interpreted as a love that is not sincere. The secrecy means that the rose has been deceived by the worm as she is not the only one in his life. This results in the destruction of the rose’s life.

In the research I did, I found out that this poem also symbolizes a passage from the bible which was really interesting to me. This passage can be found in Genesis, and it mainly talks about how Eve is deceived by a serpent to eat from the forbidden tree, and then she convinces Adam to do the same as well.