The Sick Rose

The Sick Rose by William Blake

"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.

A Formalist Approach:

In this poem the author uses a lot of imagery. One of which is the word "Rose" in the first line which may represent a woman, a love, and it can also be a representation of beauty. He alluded it into a real being since he capitalized the first letter of the word. He also used the word "worm"in the second line which may represent a man or a lover.

In the third line he used the word "flies" instead of crawl or slither to describe the movement of the said worm, to emphasize that the man came in the woman's life in a fleeting moment leaving only havoc behind like a howling storm and an anguish cry in her part.

 There is a shift in the point of view in the second stanza of the poem. The speaker narrates what had happened to the "Rose" after her encounter with the "worm". It implies that the love they had was just temporary for the man has an indecent motive upon coming in her life. The latter part of the poem entails that he only wanted "something" from her but has no intention of staying. Thus, after he got what he wanted, he left the woman incomplete, missing a part of her that will never be restored again. In short, destroying her.