The Sick Rose Analysis

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.

.: :.

‘The Sick Rose’, ‘Songs of Experience’, is a speaker telling a rose that she’s dieing. A worm has crept in, when she was unaware, and destroyed her. The main issue is love as not only does the rose symbolise love, but there is also an unknown, “dark secret love”. The shortness of the poem emphasises how quick love can destroy the rose. The poem has a disgusted tone at how the love is so quickly gone, words like 'sick' and 'worm' further express this. Only 'joy' and 'destroy' rhyme in this poem, showing how messed up the situation considering that the words are almost complete opposites. The 'worm' symbolises death and decay, however it’s 'invisible', adding on the infection it has to love as well. 'He [the worm] found out thy [rose] bed', which shows how the 'worm' denotes a flowerbed, but on a deeper level, a lover’s bed. The worm cannot help but destroy the rose, it is his nature. If he did not have a 'dark secret love' for the rose, this would not have happened. The 'howling storm' represents how unclear love can make things; it leaves one vulnerable, like the rose. An actual rose would not realise its own condition, as this rose can be symbolic of a woman – who would be oblivious to see beyond the idea of love, and the actual man, or 'worm'. Although the rose is meant to be something of beauty and love, in one instance it can decay and become, 'sick'.
Or maybe I am just an idiot.
But, I don't care!

| Posted on 2008-11-10 | by a guest