VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 15:38:39 12/07/03 Sun
Author: Tinker
Subject: A Sick Rose by William Blake Commentary

The Sick Rose by William Blake (1794)

Written in 2 quatrains, rhyme scheme abcb defe , primarily bimeter.

William Blake 1957-1827 English poet and illustrator known for his historical engravings as well has poetry. During the period in which this poem was written (1794), some of his work was considered too hot to publish because of its political implications.

The rose and worm are obviously a metaphor. For what, only the poet can say, it is not the job of the reader to figure out. Given the circumstances in the author’s biography he could have been referring to a political situation as easily as observing a personal love affair. The crimson rose is infested by an invisible worm which flies, infects and destroys.

The tone is ominous. It implies the worm destroys because of a secret love. Making the destruction indefensible.

Word choices enhance the ominous tone, sick, worm, howling, crimson, dark……

I like the poem because the multitude of implications it conjures. It is short and dark and true to its form.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.