The poem "The Sick Rose" by William Blake uses symbolic language and imagery to represent a corrupted love. It describes a rose that is sick, with an invisible worm finding its bed and destroying its life with dark secret love. The worm flies at night in a howling storm. The poem uses personification and apostrophe to create a symbolic representation of sexuality corrupting innocence.

1. Mohammad Jashim Uddin
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Northern University Bangladesh
The Sick Rose
by William Blake
You Tube Link: https://youtu.be/GnAkCUoBHGI

11. 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.

14. Ms. Blue and Her Drawing (see Figure 2)
The baby girl was in the heart of her mom, but her
mother could not protect and preserve her because
of the political persecution, “the one-child policy”
enacted by the red communism government during
1966-1976. The baby girl and her helpless mom
were controlled by the red communist government
(the gray color) and the Chinese patriarchal
tradition (the black color on the top of the
drawing).

16. Ms. Green and Her Drawing (see Figure 3)
The same rose, once was abandoned on the ground,
once was put in a vase. She has no right to make
any decision for her marriage and destiny even she
has a Master’s degree in math and computer science
and has a bright future as an engineer at IBM in
California.

17. Ms. Purple and Her Drawing (see Figure 5)
As a young Hispanic woman from Columbia, Ms.
Purple fell in love with her American boyfriend at
the first sight, without the consent from her
family. But her American husband abandoned her
and their two daughters three years after their
marriage. She had to work very hard as a janitor
in the University campus to raise herself and her
two daughters in the U.S. She always sighed over
her fate with tears.

18. A pretty young Hispanic woman was looking outside
the window and shedding tears like the rain
dripping outside her window.

20. Answer the following questions
1. What might the poem's images suggest or symbol?
2. What do you think the poem is about?
3. Does the poem have an argument? Is it
descriptive?
4. Why is the worm 'invisible', and why does he fly
through 'a howling storm'?
5. Why is the WORM destroying the rose and where
does it happen?

21. 6. Why do you think that the love is the 'dark
secret love'?
7. Why do you think the poem is mystic, symbolic
and sexual?
8. What is anthropomorphism or personification?
Draw examples from the text.
9. What is apostrophe? Give an example from the
text.
10. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

22. 11. What do the rose and the worm represent
here?
12. Identify the figure of speeches of the poem.
13. Analyze the poem from stylistic point of view.
14. Analyse the from a feminist perspective.
15. Explain the poem from Reader-respond
perspective.