Analysis on the Poem “The
Sick Rose” Using Formalism Approach
by Stephen Calixton
The Sick Rose
by William Blake
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
At first glance, I thought the
poem is about a failing relationship since
rose is conventionally one of the many symbols for love. However, upon
noticing that it is written as “Rose” (proper noun) I came into conclusion that
Rose in this poem is somehow the name of a maiden - maybe a loved one or a
child inflicted by a death-causing disease caused by The invisible worm.
In the second line of the first stanza, the author indirectly says that a virus
- which looks like a worm when looked through a microscope - is the culprit of
Rose’s torment. The virus is the sexually transmitted disease syphilis
widespread during 1974 in England, the home of Blake. Describing the virus as
something that flies in the night in the howling storm, the poem tells
that syphilis was acquired one night by
Rose. The word howling in the last line of the first stanza gives the
night an ominous ambiance. However, some literary critics believe that it
refers to the moans and groans in the verge on of an intense sex. In the first
line of the last stanza, it was confirmed that word ‘howling’ really refers to
the lustful joy. But since the that
night she was infected of a sexual disease, we can have a paradoxical
combination joy and isolation. The act of making love has maybe
caused her happiness, but it also gave her life’s greatest grief. The lines Has
found out thy bed | Of crimson joy, in addition, also gives the readers an
idea that the woman is in the grave state of gloom that night, so she “flies”
under the dusk to find momentary joy - coital joy. In the last two lines of the
poem, as the story unfolds, it is told that what destroys her life was “his”
secret love - his referring to his beau or husband. Maybe, her husband
has another woman. From here, I can infer that Rose wants to revenge to her
beau by having sex with another man, believing it can bring about satisfaction
if she does so. Unfortunately, that “another man” is infected of syphilis, thus
the supposed-to-be sweet revenge turned into a disaster.
