[546] The Sick Rose

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.

	-- William Blake

Martin's commentary yesterday notwithstanding, short poems do not necessarily
have to be either 'self-contained' or 'gemlike' in order to achieve perfection.
Indeed, I find that among my own favourite short poems are several that seem to
expand upon reading, that open themselves up to multiple layers of
interpretation. This is one of them.

thomas.

[Minstrels Links]

There are, of course, plenty of short poems on the Minstrels site, from
Pound's imagist magic to Basho's haiku. One of my favourites is Peter
Porter's 'Instant Fish', another poem that seems to say much more than just
what the words imply: poem #64

Talking about Peter Porter and haiku, here's one that shouldn't be missed:

	William Blake, William
Blake, William Blake, William Blake,
	say it and feel new!

	-- Peter Porter

from 'Japanese Jokes', poem #198

From: Hita Adwanikar <hitamad@>

hi, 
i am a newcomer to this great site... and i dont know if you
have ever had poems by dorothy parker. i like them for thir
freshness and jauntiness... things we often miss in our daily
toils..
thanks for this great site though, to everyone concerned. 
hita

-----
Hita Adwanikar       Division of Neuroscience
(L)713 798 7459      Baylor College of Medicine 
(R)713 668 4453      One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030

From: Martin Julian DeMello <martindemello@>

Also sprach Hita Adwanikar...
> hi, 
> i am a newcomer to this great site... and i dont know if you
> have ever had poems by dorothy parker. i like them for thir
> freshness and jauntiness... things we often miss in our daily
> toils..

Several :) See http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/index_poet.html and
search for Parker - three done and a few in the pipeline (I agree - she's
wonderfully refreshing). If there's any particular favourite you'd like to
see, do send it in - we're always on the lookout for suggestions and guest
poems.

> thanks for this great site though, to everyone concerned. 

Thank you - it's always nice to be appreciated.

m.

From: Paulreets@


This poem, to be fully appreciated must be read aloud.  Hearing this lovely
little poem recited by someone like Richard Burton adds suprising demension
and meaning.  When you then silently reread it, you will be amazed at its
sad, subtle beauty.           

Paul  (Of "The Sick Rose")

From: "Bruno Giordani" <b.giordani@>

u

From: Tanya Hart <tigg@>

Hi minstrels

I am in Hong Kong at the moment, as we are going crazy with the mystery
pneumonia virus. Half the people on the streets are wearing surgical masks,
anyone who coughs or sneezes is feared (and the high pollution levels mean
most people have cold symptoms anyway), schools and universities are closed
to students (i'm a teacher so i'm still at work). No one knows really if the
virus is spread by water-droplets or through the air (more scary). A whole
apartment block has been quarantined, 80 people a day getting infected.

I was thinking of this poem (which has stuck in my head since first year
uni, looong ago), because right now, my lungs are a precious vulnerable
rose. It really is frighteningly like this poem. Because the virus incubates
for several days, we walk around wondering if we have invisibly caught it
already and are infecting our friends. We are suspicious of ourselves.

So thank for your site, it was nice to find it so fast. I just typed 'blake'
and the first line into google, and you came up.

Yours, Tan. 

From: "Drew Arent" <darent@>

  To fully comprehend this poem, it's important to have an understanding
of the collection it comes from: "Songs of Innocence and Experience,"
which includes both The Lamb and the Tyger.  This is obviously a song of
experience--or rather the transition from innocence to experience.
There's much to say about this 8 line poem.  There are religious,
sexual, moral insinuations.
  Why is the rose sick?  It is far from a physical ailment and more of a
moral issue.  The speaker, which could be represented by an
authoritative figure like Rose's mother, is informing her that she is
"mentally ill" because she expressed her "crimson joy."  Because Rose
allowed the "invisible worm" into her bed (as opposed to a legitimate,
'visible' worm), her life in the eyes of society will forever be
destroyed.
  Taboos of sex.  Taboos of sex.  This is what we're talking about.
Blake heightens the mundane and ordinary creatures of life to represent
extraordinary, abstract ideas of an evolving culture.
  So, instantly, we associate the worm with the cause of Rose's
sickness.  This is what the speaker implies.  However, it was not a
forced sexual interaction at all.  The worm travels through a hail-storm
of societal restrictions and a guilty conscience to find her "bed of
crimson joy" that already existed before he got there.  And it was
joyful.  Sensual.  Therefore, the Rose's sexuality is the root of her
sickness and not the worm.
  To lose one's innocence improperly, according to the institution of
religion then and now is shameful.  It's generally harder to sympathize
with the rose's situation of forbidden sexual passion nowadays then it
was in 1794 when it was written.  However, taboos will exist as long as
humanity does and  we all can relate to Rose on some "invisible" level
(she says as her closet bursts open with skeletons).