The Sick Rose-substance and key questions

Symbolism in The Sick Rose: Meaning and Interpretation

Word Meanings

thou-you

art-are

invisible-unseen; unnoticed

crimson-deep red

thy-your

Substance

William Blake, a prominent poet of the Romantic period, offers a dark meditation on love and corruption in his poem “The Sick Rose.”The speaker addresses a rose, a traditional symbol of purity, beauty, and innocence, and reveals how an unseen worm secretly invades its crimson bed during a stormy night.
This hidden force, representing corruption and destructive passion, strips the rose of its vitality and leaves it sickened.Through vivid, symbolic imagery, Blake explores profound themes like vulnerability, moral decay, and the destructive nature of suppressed desires.

Short Answer Type Questions

1. When does the worm fly?Ans: The worm flies during a violent and stormy night, shrouded in darkness.2. From which collection is the poem taken?Ans: The poem appears in Blake’s collection Songs of Experience.3. Why is the rose described as sick?Ans: The rose is sick because it has been corrupted by an invisible worm, which secretly invades and destroys it.4. Where does the worm enter?Ans: The worm infiltrates the crimson bed of the rose, symbolizing its innermost innocence.5. How is the worm’s love characterized?Ans: The worm’s love is depicted as dark, secretive, and ultimately fatal.6. In the line “And his dark secret love”—whose love is mentioned?Ans: The love referred to belongs to the worm.7. Why is the worm invisible?Ans: The worm remains unseen because it moves under the cover of night and during a raging storm.

Long Answer Type Questions

1. Analyze the significance of the title The Sick Rose.

Ans-Blake’s choice of title immediately signals that something pure and beautiful has been tainted.
The rose, often a literary symbol of innocence, beauty, and idealized love, here becomes a victim of hidden corruption.The sickness represents the loss of purity—brought on by secret passions or destructive forces that prey upon innocence.
By using this title, Blake captures the essence of the poem’s exploration of how unseen, often internalized, forces of lust, guilt, or betrayal can destroy something once thought untouchable.Thus, the title is not only fitting but integral to understanding the poem’s deeper commentary on human experience.

2. What does the worm symbolize in The Sick Rose? Why is it invisible?

Ans-In the poem, the worm serves as a powerful symbol of hidden corruption, betrayal, and the darker aspects of human passion.It reflects destructive forces that act in secret—whether lust, guilt, societal decay, or the inevitable touch of death.
Blake’s portrayal of the worm as invisible emphasizes the insidious nature of these forces: they work unseen until the damage becomes irreversible.This invisibility mirrors how temptation, deceit, or moral decay often go unnoticed until innocence has already been lost.

3. Interpret the phrase “dark secret love” in the poem.

Ans-The phrase “dark secret love” suggests a love that is hidden, illicit, and ultimately destructive.Rather than presenting love as a force for growth and joy, Blake shows it as something that corrupts in secrecy.
The worm’s secret infiltration of the rose mirrors relationships founded on deception or selfishness—where the façade of affection masks deeper harm.This concept aligns with Blake’s broader view in Songs of Experience that the adult world, unlike the innocent perceptions of childhood, is filled with hidden dangers and moral complexities.

Exercise

A. Complete the sentences by selecting the correct option:

The worm took shelter in the rose to —(d) make a prey of his passionate love.‘Crimson’ refers to —(d) red colour.The worm that destroys the rose remains —(a) invisible.The worm in the poem is invisible because —(b) of the night and howling storm.“Has found out thy bed” — Here, the ‘bed’ signifies —(d) the petals of the rose.

B. Do as directed:

His dark secret love does thy life destroy.
→ (Using the noun form of ‘dark’)The darkness of his secret love brings destruction to thy life.The invisible worm that flies in the night, in the howling storm, has found out thy bed of crimson joy.
→ (Using the noun form of ‘flies’)The flight of the invisible worm during the howling storm has led it to thy bed of crimson joy.The invisible worm has found out thy bed of crimson joy.
→ (Split into two sentences)The invisible worm has found out thy bed. The bed is filled with crimson joy.The invisible worm that flies in the night, in the howling storm, has found out thy bed of crimson joy.
→ (Using the verb form of ‘howling’)The invisible worm that flies in the night, while the storm howls, has found out thy bed of crimson joy.His dark secret love does thy life destroy.
→ (Change the voice)Thy life is destroyed by his dark secret love.The poet said to the rose, “The invisible worm has found out thy bed of crimson joy.”
→ (Change the narration)The poet told the rose that the invisible worm had discovered its bed of crimson joy.