The Sick Rose
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The Sick Rose" is a poem by William Blake. The first publication was in 1794, when it was included in his collection titled Songs of Experience as the 39th plate. The incipit of the poem is O Rose thou art sick. Blake composed the page sometime after 1789, and presents it with the illuminated border and illustrations that were typical of his self publications. Most aspects of the original production were undertaken by the author, the composition of the poem and design, engraving, and promotion of the work. The printing was usually done by Blake's wife, Catherine, as well as any colouring not performed by Blake himself.
Text
The text has been republished in typeset many times, with slight variations, and is usually included in collections of the author's work. As with many of Blake's 'songs', such as "The Tyger", the verse is contained in numerous anthologies of English poetry. A transcription of the original manuscript is: <poem> 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. </poem>
Analysis
Nathan Cervo describes the poem as "One of the most baffling and enigmatic in the English language" although Michael Riffaterre doubts the direct equivalence of Man as a worm; when Blake makes this comparison in other places, Riffaterre notes, he is explicit about it. Nevertheless, the "lesson of the worm may be applicable to human experience".
The rhyme scheme is ABCB. The scansion is difficult to place, due to a lack of pattern; the stanzas are asymmetrical: the first has syllables of 5,6,5,5, and the second of 5,4,6,5. Punctuation is also irregular: there is no [,] after "O Rose", and yet there is after "worm".
The poem has been set to music by Benjamin Britten in his 1943 song cycle "Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings", where is forms the movement, "Elegy". More recently, British rock band Amplifier set the poem to music on their 2011 album, The Octopus.
See also
