William Blake

The sick rose (1st draft)

'''The sick rose'''

Symbolic disease

Blake uses 'sick' metaphorically—not just physical illness, but a deeper spiritual or emotional corruption.

O rose thou art sick;
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night,

Nocturnal predation

Night and storm suggest hidden, destructive forces. The 'invisible worm' is a metaphor for something that secretly undermines.

Nocturnal predation

Night and storm suggest hidden, destructive forces. The 'invisible worm' is a metaphor for something that secretly undermines.

In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy;

Erotic destruction

'Crimson joy' implies passionate love that simultaneously creates and destroys. Blake sees desire as a complex, potentially fatal force.

[O, dark secret love
Doth life destroy. ''del.'']
And [his ''del.''] her dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Romantic Symbolism of Destruction

Romantic poets like Blake often used natural imagery to explore psychological and spiritual states. Here, the rose represents vulnerability and beauty, while the worm symbolizes a destructive, hidden force.

The poem suggests that love or desire contains seeds of its own annihilation. 'Dark secret love' implies something forbidden or repressed that ultimately consumes the lover.

Textual Variations

CONTEXT This draft shows Blake's editing process, with deleted lines and word changes. The final version simplifies the emotional complexity, removing explicit references to gender.

The manuscript's variations reveal Blake wrestling with the poem's core metaphor: how intimate connections can be simultaneously generative and devastating.