Poem Analysis of The Sick Rose by William Blake

In this essay, I will analyse the poetic devices used and the issue in a poem titled “The Sick Rose” by William Blake. I will begin with the structure of the poem that has two stanzas consist of four lines in each stanza. I found that the poem has anapest dimeter as its metrical feet for most of the lines, except for the sixth line in the second stanza that uses iambic. I have analized the metrical feet and the following poem has the words or syllables in bold to show the stressed word or syllable and unbold words or syllables for the unstressed in each line.

The Sick Rose by William Blake                        

O Rose | thou art sick.

The invis | ible worm,

That flies | in the night

In the howl | ing storm:

Has found | out thy bed

Of crim | son joy: à Iambic dimeter

And his dark | secret love

Does thy life | destroy.

The Sick Rose uses visual imagery for most of the lines, it can be seen in most of the line and developed by the diction used by the speaker such as: “invisible worm”, “flies in the night”, “howling storm”. The speaker also use kinesthetic imagery in third line “flies in the night” that refers to the worm. Also auditory imagery, also developed by the diction as seen in the fourth line “the howling storm”. I also found that the use of word “howling” is an onomatopoeia that can be describe the storm that happens in the poem.

Beside the uses of onomatopoiea, the speaker also uses the rhyme for the final syllables in the poem. The speaker didn’t use the full rhyme, but half rhyme in this poem. It can be seen in the second line “worm”, fourth line “storm”, sixth line “joy”, and eighth line “destroy”.

For the figurative language, the first line is using personification for the rose because it describe as sick, whereas the speaker could use the word “wilted” instead, if the one that the speaker means is the rose as plant. Moreover the word “thy bed” in the second stanza is supporting the Rose as a person not as a flower, so the pesnonification is no longer exist.

So, “the Rose” in the first line is using the metaphore which shows a beautiful woman using the recemblance of two words (rose and women) such as: beautiful.

The word “worm” in the second line is also a metaphore for a man. Beside the metaphore,  the speaker also uses personification for “worm” because in the poem the word could love just like a human. I also foud aphostrophe in this poem which makes the “person” mentioned in the poem existed or heard what the speaker says in the first line “O Rose”.

In the second stanza, the word “bed” is associated with “crimson joy”, the bed itself is a metaphore love or in another word is sex.

The whole poetry is talking about the woman who lost her innocence because she started to know love because of a man, and love is often associated with sex.

Sex is regarded as sin moreover the speaker said that the love of the man is dark secret love like in the seventh line, so that the speaker also said that “the rose is sick”, because she is not longer innocent and losing her innocence makes her life detroyed.

PS: This essay is my final assignment of Poetic Devices.