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Comment 50 of 60, added on May 5th, 2006 at 4:23 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.
Sarah from Australia
Comment 49 of 60, added on May 2nd, 2006 at 10:54 AM.
The rose is a women, (Rose- represents beauty, love, women.) This women probably a prostatute??? has been seeked out by 'the worm' an 'invisible' man. The man appears to be in control, he has found the innocent womens 'bed' and curupted it as a worm would do to a rose.
Salzi from United Kingdom
Comment 48 of 60, added on May 1st, 2006 at 10:05 AM.
the subject of the poem is about rape and how it affects someone.
sophie from Australia
Comment 47 of 60, added on April 27th, 2006 at 10:50 AM.
it is about being sexually abused, cant you see?
dunlop from United Kingdom
Comment 46 of 60, added on April 19th, 2006 at 1:57 AM.
My interpretation:
A girl is helplessly in love. Her feeling of love has come like a howling storm in the night, finding its way to her "bed of crimson joy".
For some reason her love (caused by his love) is a disaster for her. Maybe the society (the church?) does not approve?
Because this feeling is disastrous for her it is like a worm in a roses' bed, destroying the roses' life. The worm is in the ground and therefor invisible, like their love (dark and secret).
Frank Siljan from Norway
Comment 45 of 60, added on April 17th, 2006 at 6:39 AM.
i was thinking of the sick rose andits compaion the blossom..what if in theblossom it was aman telling his intended that sex is ok..itseven great let me show you..he does and she has uncontained joy for days afterwards this secret is sooo good she has to tell someone or she gets pregnant someone finds out then the man who has sex with her says mean things to her like whore slut and whatnot then he says all of their problems are because of her so shes sad..her lover has rejected her and no one wants her so she statrs wasting away in the most dramatic way ..unrequited love..and the blossom is fro the mans point of view and the sick rose is the womans point of view or someone who has access to seeing her a lot
Lauren
Comment 44 of 60, added on April 16th, 2006 at 11:16 AM.
I believe these lines to be a story about a man who cheated on his wife, caught a disease, and then infected his wife. I think he used the word invisable to say that she (his wife) did not know what he was doing in the night.
Cassie from United States
Comment 43 of 60, added on April 3rd, 2006 at 8:46 AM.
The Sick Rose is a poem describing the affects of a disease in a woman that she got from a rapist. The worm is the disease it is killing her from the inside which is why it is invisible. She got this disease while she was loosing her virginity. The crimson is her blood from the hymen.
Matt from United States
Comment 42 of 60, added on March 14th, 2006 at 2:08 PM.
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.
Daniel from United Kingdom
Comment 41 of 60, added on February 23rd, 2006 at 7:28 PM.
I happen to agree with Lauren on the point of heartbreak but not on the point of politics. Several of Blake's poems have referenced to politics but i beleive the purpose of this poem is to express the sorrows of love. I think that many of the previous comments have been too specific, focusing on a certain aspect such as rape is not a probable cause. A more genral and deeper expression is that of love and the possible mental disasters associated with being attached.
Evan from Canada
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
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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.
Sarah from Australia