In “The Sick Rose”, Blake describes a rose that, while sick, isn’t aware. A rose typically is an expression or representation of love. Usually graceful and flowing, a sick rose describes something fundamentally wrong with the institution of love in general. A worm, insects that deal in dirt and decay, has found its way into the bed, alluding to the marriage bed. The worm “flies in the night in the howling storm,” unbothered by the darkness and rain, perhaps because he is most at home in chaos. Marriage is traditionally considered the best way to have the truest and most fulfilling love, and by letting a worm into it, lead to its destruction.
The engravings are helpful in illustrating different states of love at varying levels of decay, Some of the engravings are bright and colourful, the apples at the bottom are bright red and unbothered. The woman on the apple appears healthy and colourful as well. The engravings get progressively darker however, the leaves losing colour and dying, the apple rotting, the woman becomes paler and the sky loses colour. In this way, the engravings not only aid in the reading of the text, but make the calamity feel less inevitable. The amount of engravings makes it feel as though the destruction of love happened in stages, stages that at any time with the proper awareness and care could have been. In addition, because the text is being read not in an anthology, but in an archive accompanied by all of the engravings and other poems, there is more contextual relevance as to the theme the author was trying to convey.
I thought your analysis of the poem equating the dying rose with a dying marriage was very thorough and insightful. I think it’s also interesting to consider the way Blake implies that this “worm” has wriggled its way into the bed through secrecy (perhaps even deceit?): he calls it “the invisible worm” and later refers to “his dark secret love.” Blake might be suggesting that often the catalyst for the destruction of a relationship comes quietly and without one really noticing it before it has already “found out thy bed.”
I liked your interpretation that the worm in the rose is symbolizing a marriage getting destroyed. I definitely see that as a possible interpretation. After reading the poem and looking at the engravings however, I also got an idea that the woman in the engravings is having an affair and that the worm symbolizes the other man because of the line “his dark secret love” (8). Another interpretation that I thought of was that the woman is a prostitute and the worm is just a man that comes into her bed for sex and then leaves. The lines “The invisible worm. / That flies in the night / In the howling storm” (3-5) Imply that the worm is only using the rose for shelter during the storm just like a man would only use a prostitute for sex. In the engravings, the woman is wrapped around the worm as if she needs it but it doesn’t need her. This would also explain the other women in the engravings that are laying around on the vines of the rose. This poem has so many interpretations and it’s really cool because it’s so short. Great job analyzing it!
You did a really good job breaking down this poem. Your reading of the engravings really adds another dimension to the poem. I couldn’t help but think that the worm might symbolize a specific means of destroying a marriage. The imagery of it flying into one’s marriage bed during a howling storm makes me think of infidelity that might have started after the couple had gotten into an argument or rough patch in their relationship. From the lines, “And his dark secret love/ Does thy life destroy” Blake could be portraying a love-affair that continues in the background of the preexisting relationship that leads to its destruction and decay.
Nice job with this analysis! I love how much meaning is in such a short poem, and how the engravings add even more to that meaning. I like how Blake describes the bed as “crimson joy.” Most of the engravings give the rose a dark red, crimson color, but some of them are a more pale pink. This seems a little bit contradictory if the bed, the rose, is supposed to be crimson, but maybe the engraving is just a little bit later, and the rose has already become so sick that it is losing its color. I also think it is strange that there is a contradiction between the poem saying the worm is invisible, and the engraving showing the worm. What made Blake decide to do this? Is it because sometimes in unfaithful marriages, outsiders can see the problem, but those involved refuse to believe it?