This poem can be interpreted in many different ways some may see it dark others may see it creepy; some may even say it is vengeful. I used three different factors when determining my view of this poem; tone, characters, and symbols where my determining factors for “The Sick Rose”. When I analyzed these three items I was able to come to my conclusion. When reading “The Sick Rose” I Was able to see an obvious tone that being Creepy an Stealthy tone.
When I read “the invisible worm” it makes me think of someone or thing sneaking around trying to be stealthy and silent. I also noticed that when stealthy is brought up you are usually talking about someone who doesn’t want to get caught like a ninja or somebody in an affair. This brings me to the creepy side of the tone; “howling storm” and “crimson joy” all give off a creepy vibe and are used to set the tone. The stealthy tone already set with the previous lines is now heightened by the creepiness and kind of bring a dark desire or forbidden desire out.
When things are forbidden they tend to make people want to do them more because they feel the danger of being caught or the fear of being caught which then makes there adrenaline pump and humans naturally feed off of things like this. With the tone set I went on to my next item of analysis. The tone set the stage for the characters to show their true colors. Trying to find characters in a poem tends to be difficult because they are normally well hidden by writer. Many people may see different things as characters but the obvious one in my opinion is the Rose.
The rose I feel is the main character of the poem she has a vengeful attitude and is very sickly. With these 2 attributes I feel this makes her a very volatile character with a lot of reasons to blow up. The invisible worm I feel is the one committing adultery and can very easily be identified as the one who is looking for a rush or the one who is sneaking around trying to be stealthy and secret and trying not to get caught. The worm is also I feel is a way of demining him for his actions of adultery the writer is basically saying he is no better than a worm.
With the characters identified I moved on to symbols. This poem is full of symbols obvious or not they are a lot in there. When reading the Rose it symbolizes a character as stated above and the worm symbolizes the one committing adultery the sneaky man looking for a quick fix. I Fell crimson joy symbolizes him getting caught committing the act and paying for it with his own blood, in other words I feel the rose exacted her revenge on the invisible worm. I feel that after doing so the “sick” rose died of her own personal illness and stress of his unfaithfulness.
I got that from “And His dark secret love does thy life destroy”. I feel this says his love destroyed and untimely ended The Roses life. With these being symbols and death and the stress an affair can have on one’s life it easily becomes a story of rage and carnage with a very dark ending. In conclusion I feel “The Sick Rose” has a story that is easily identified from this poem. I may have had a different view point than others but using my three tools of analysis I felt I brought a very logical view point from this poem.
With secret stealth and creepy vengeful tone I feel when reading this poem it gives strength along with vulnerability. The Characters in this poem spoke for themselves. Being symbols and having very relatable attributes such as desire, lust, and deceit. The symbols in this poem are what truly told the story to me they had great meaning others may have pictured these symbols differently then I but I believe this was a great interpretation.
