Write a critical note on the poem The Sick Rose. (Substance) / Significance of the title of the poem The Sick Rose. / Show the relation between the rose and the worm.

Write a critical note on the poem The Sick Rose. (Substance) (See:1,2,3 Para) 

OR 

Significance of the title of the poem The Sick Rose. (See:1,2,4 Para) 

OR 

Show the relation between the rose and the worm. (See:1,2 Para)

Answer:  William Blake’s creations always rebel against tyranny and evil of our society. The poem The Sick Rose symbolically shows how innocence is corrupted by the experience through two characters—a rose and worm. 1

       At the very beginning of the poem, the poet addresses a rose and informs it that it is sick. In a stormy night, an "invisible" worm manages to creep in it and takes it as his bed of “crimson joy”. But the worm begins to hurt the rose secretly. And ultimately, it destroys the rose. But the poem symbolically presents another interpretation. Here the rose symbolizes the beauty, innocence of a virgin girl and the worm stands for evil force, corruption of our society. The beautiful girl is sick because a man, whose love is dark and secret, is destroying her out of her knowledge. The lines— "Has found out thy bed / Of crimson joy" prove that this relationship is sexual, and that the girl is getting deflowered. 2

       Blake wrote "The Sick Rose" to show that love is not always beautiful. There is nothing imaginative or fantastical fact in this poem. Rather it is a real account about how love can destroy a life just like the Satan corrupted Eve to make sin and she was cast away from Eden. 3

      Thus, the poet symbolically linked the title with the theme of the poem. So, the title is very much apt.  4