Analysis on the Poem "The Sick Rose"

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.