SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE SICK ROSE in SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE

SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE SICK ROSE IN SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE

 

SUMMARY

Critic Harold Bloom refers to the current short poem as "one of Blake's gnomic triumphs." The speaker addresses a rose, which he claims is sick because an “invisible worm” has “found out thy bed/Of crimson joy.” The rose symbolizes earthly, as hostile spiritual, love, which becomes ill when infected with the materialism of the globe. The rose’s bed of “crimson joy” may be a sexual image, with the admittedly phallic worm representing either lust or jealousy. The worm features a “dark secret love” that destroys the rose’s life, suggesting something sinful or unmentionable.

ANALYSIS

Nature brings this sickness to the worm with “the howling storm.” Although the speaker decries the rose's sickness within the first line, the remainder of the poem subtly suggests that the rose isn't innocent of her own destruction. The worm has incidentally "found out" the rose's bed, which is "crimson joy" even before the worm's arrival. The red of passion and of the vaginal "crimson bed" image counterpart to the worm's phallic one suggests that the rose has already been experiencing some reasonably lustful passion.

In keeping with much of the Songs of Experience, this poem is brief, with two stanzas, and deviates from the Innocence rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD. Here the rhyme scheme, ABCB DEFE, introduces a note of discord to keep with the ill effects of the "secret love" which the rose hides, much to its detriment. "Worm" and "storm" are rhymed, connecting the agent of destruction with a force of nature. within the second stanza, "joy" and "destroy" are connected, linking what should be a positive experience to the decaying disease that the rose has contracted.

THE SICK ROSE - IMAGERY, SYMBOLISM AND THEMES

IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM

Rose – This literary symbol is employed in three ways:

· consistent with medieval tradition, it represents chastity / virginity and thus was related to young girls

· It signifies love, especially romantic passion

· it's also linked with mortality, an indication of the transience of human love and wonder, because it blooms, smells sweetly so dies. It therefore links sex and death.

The penetration of the rose by the hidden canker worm can, therefore, be understood because the covert sex which destroys the virginity of an ‘innocent' and thus corrupts her own expression of affection.

Worm – Literally, this refers to the canker worm which attacks rosebuds. Metaphorically:

· Worms are related to death and decay, since dead bodies are said to be food for worms

· In medieval English, ‘worm' was also accustomed sit down with a snake or serpent. It therefore may allude to the image of the snake / serpent because the seducer of Eve within the story of the autumn of humankind in Genesis chapter 3. See Big ideas from the Bible > Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, Second Adam. Here it links sexuality and shame, just as, after the autumn, Adam and Eve ‘know they're naked' and check out to cover from God

· The invisibility of the worm echoes the Christian teaching that the devil lurks unseen and could be a master of disguise

· ‘Worm' also conveys phallic associations. Blake believed that when humankind ‘fell' and also the sexes were separated, it had a bearing on their capacity for sexual ecstasy. Capacity for ecstatic union was reduced from whole body involvement to the genitals alone.

Flies within the night – Traditionally, night is that the time when demons, witches and wild beasts seek their prey and ghosts appear. It therefore suggests that this ‘worm' is active at the time when people are most prey to their fears and fantasies.

Howling storm – this means times of ungovernable, frightening turmoil and keenness that are potentially destructive.

Has discovered – this might be an echo of Psalms 90:8 which refers to the exposure of ‘secret sins'

Crimson – Usually denoting passion, blood and shame, crimson and scarlet are colours wont to describe sin within the will. (See Isaiah 1:18). That the worm has ‘found out thy bed / Of crimson joy' suggests, possibly, that ideas of shame, sin and secrecy have reached to the innermost a part of the person. Its capacity for ‘joy' is now infected by such life-denying emotions, bringing it death. Literally, the ‘crimson joy' could also be describing the blood shed at the loss of virginity

INVESTIGATING IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM

v What were your associations with roses and worms once you first read this poem?

 

Ø What reaction did they evoke in you?

Ø Having thought of some possible further associations with the photographs, how does one react to them now?

THEMES

The effects of ‘fullness' on repression of sexuality and other emotions

Blake believed that inhibitions lie primarily within the mind, instead of in external factors. Society makes its fears, guilt and shame into rules and laws which are then enshrined in social institutions like the authority of fogeys, the Church and also the State or Monarchy. Here, repression and prohibition mean that love should be related to secrecy and with forces that are perceived as destructive.

THE EFFECTS OF THE AUTUMN

A second, related theme is that the effect on human relationships of fallen divided selfhood which jealously defends its pleasures, denying them to others – the love is ‘dark' and ‘secret'. One chief pleasure is exerting control over others, which may often masquerade as showing affection. This makes love devouring and destructive, as we discover during this poem.

INVESTIGATING THEMES

· What new ideas about these two themes does one gain from this poem?

· Blake was an advocate of ‘free love'. Does this alter how you understand The Sick Rose?

Like in many of Blake’s poems, an exclamation point in used where he comments on a difficulty that seems obviously atrocious to him, but the remainder of the planet is seemingly oblivious thereto as they are doing nothing to change it. “Rose” – could symbolise the wildlife. Could symbolise virginity and purity, as corrupted by a brand new societal norm of chaos and promiscuity that came with industrialisation. Could also check with love, therein the sanctity of affection and marriage are corrupted: roses given as a token of affection.

‘sick’ = the decay and death of the plants, the death of traditional and Romantic notions regarding love and virginity.

‘Rose’ – connotations of beauty, could suggest the death of lovely notions.

The Rose, as an inanimate object, cannot realize that it's sick so can do nothing to stop its death.

The invisible worm

‘invisible worm’ – the seamless decay of the flora and fauna within the name of industrialisation, the seamless decay of romantic notions of relationships and love.

‘worm’ – creates a phallic image, extended lexical field of sex and allusions to the loss of virginity; perhaps Blake is commenting on the loss of purity that has include the loss of the nature and of the ‘simpler life’ advocated by Romantics.

‘worm’ – also may be a non secular allusion to the snake (devil) within the Garden of Eden; lust is tempting people to corrupt the attractive elements of life, like love and nature; further corruption to the purpose where virginity is not any longer valued, purity is lost.

‘worm’ – shows connotations of decay, as furthered with the noun ‘flies’ within the next line; decay of natural world/romantic notions.

That flies within the night,

‘flies’ – the speed with which the degradation of the pure elements of life has occurred, seemingly impossible to prevent in it’s path: it's occurred with the rapidity of industrialisation.

‘night’ – sordid and sexual time when prostitutes tend to figure (ladies of the night); vulnerable ‘rose’ is more vulnerable to corruption; flowers cannot flourish within the dark and their growth is therefore stinted.

In the howling storm

‘howling storm’ – industrialised world, allude to noisy machinery. Could also allude to the unstoppable power and strength of nature.

Has discovered thy bed

bed’ – flowerbed; ‘found’ so as to corrupt and destroy the plants.

– Literal bed, virginity isn't any longer seen as a pure and virtuous thing to possess, corrupted young girls (“youthful Harlots” in ‘London’)

(bed) Of crimson joy

‘crimson’ – the color of a standard rose

Allusion to blood when the hymen is tame when virginity is lost, the girl’s ‘purity is taken’.

‘joy’ suggests that the girl has willingly succumbed to her sinful desired, Blake comments on the loss of the sanctity of marriage and of loving relationships.

And his dark secret love

‘dark’ – adjective implies sin.

The corrupt and sinister side of people’s lives; ‘lust’ is one the 7 deadly sins; corrupted notions of affection which only amount to sexual attraction.

Does thy life destroy. ‘thy life destroy’ –‘destroy.’ – poignant verb to finish the poem, end-stopped for dramatic effect.

NATURE

SYMBOL ANALYSIS

The poem is named "The Sick Rose" so it's no surprise that nature figures prominently into it. But this poem is not just a couple of dying flower. It's a couple of weird, almost magical worm—it can fly after all—that destroys the flower. Sure we all comprehend the circle of life and the way bugs eat plants etc., but there's something more sinister that story during this poem.

Line 1: The speaker addresses the rose and says that it's sick. the shape of address—"O rose"—is called an apostrophe.

Line 2: The speaker introduces the "invisible worm." The worm probably isn't literally invisible, but may well be in some reasonably stealth mode. it would blend in with the environment sort of a chameleon, or it could just be too small to be seen. "Invisible" can be a metaphor for the worm's quiet act of destruction.

Line 4: The speaker mentions a "howling storm," which supplies the poem a more ominous tone. "Howling" reminds us of dogs or wolves; the sounds of these animals are here a metaphor for the storm.

Line 5: "Bed" might ask a plot of ground within which the rose is growing, or perhaps the rose's petals. within the first case, it is not a literal bed with comforters and pillows, so it is a metaphorfor the plot of ground. within the second case, it refers to an area where insects rest or sleep.

Lines 7-8: The speaker describes how the worm "destroys" (8) the rose together with his "dark secret love." The worm might literally destroy the rose, but he most certainly doesn't have any "dark secret love"; attributing human characteristics ("love") to inhuman things (the worm) is termed personification.

THE COLOR RED

SYMBOL ANALYSIS

The poem is named "The Sick Rose," and that we often associate the colour red with roses, as within the well-known rhyme "roses are red, violets are blue." additionally to the rose described within the first line, the speaker also refers to a "bed of crimson joy" in line 6. the colour is related to sickness because the rose is sick, but it's also related to happiness or "joy." The poem suggests, if only obliquely, that "red" can symbolize different, even opposing, things.

Line 1: The speaker addresses the rose, which we assume is red. The way within which the speaker addresses the rose—"O rose"—is called an apostrophe.

Line 6: The rose incorporates a "bed of crimson joy." "Bed" could ask the garden plot during which the rose resides or perhaps to its petals, which could function as a bed for various insects. If it refers to the bottom, it may be literally red or it could just mean an intense quite joy related to the bed. Describing a sense (joy) in terms of a color is an example of synesthesia, a kind of figurative language during which different sensory experiences are mixed, as in "hot pink.

SICKNESS

SYMBOL ANALYSIS

We know from the get-go that this poem is a few "sick rose." But why is that the rose sick? The poem is anxious with this question, and refuses to allow a solution. It starts by telling us the rose is sick, and therefore the second stanza suggests that the worm can be the reason for this sickness. The speaker never really tells us what exactly is going on so we are left wondering whether or not the worm maliciously infects the rose.

Line 1: The speaker tells the rose that it's sick. the shape of address—"O rose"—is called an apostrophe.

Lines 7-8: The speaker describes how the worm destroys the rose along with his "dark secret love." The way during which the worm penetrates the "bed of crimson joy" suggests that he's infecting the rose.

SEX AND LOVE

SYMBOL ANALYSIS

We've all heard the expression "sex and love aren't the identical thing." during this poem, though, they variety of are the identical thing. The love during this poem is "dark and secret" (7) and is related to a destructive or violent act of gender, bordering on but roughly synonymous with rape. The poem refuses to present us a picture or symbol of affection that may not complicated by something more sinister. The rose, an almost universal symbol of affection, is sick, and also the worm's "love" is as off from a Valentine's Day card mutually could get.

Line 1: The speaker addresses the rose with phrase "O rose thou art sick"; this can be called an apostrophe. The rose here may well be a metaphor for love or passion; our ideas about which are "sick."

Lines 5-6: The worm manages to worm his way into the rose's bed, which suggests some reasonably sexual act.

Lines 7-8: The worm's "dark secret love" kills the rose; a worm doesn't literally possess any "love," so this can be an example of personification, where human characteristics or emotions (love) are attributed to non-human things (worm)