how isolated and misunderstood Emily was.

Not only is a rose a form of life, but the title suggests that this is something being offered to Emily. One might offer a rose as a romantic gesture on a date. Emily, in her life, did not go on dates, for her father forbade it. He turned away countless suitors at the family door. Even after her father's death, when Emily finally has the freedom to choose a man for herself, she cannot do so; the man she wants, Homer Barron, does not want her.

The title could suggest an offering made by the town for Emily at her funeral. The town acts as the collective first person narrator of the story, and the town's opinion of Emily ranges from curiosity to disapproval to pity. Little is known of Emily, and when the town attends Emily's funeral, the men go "through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument," while the women go "mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house." Emily was elusive and isolated in life. She was not the kind of woman who would have received a gift of roses. Only in her death does the town get close enough to discover the secrets of Emily. Only in her death does Emily receive the gesture of a rose, but this gesture is impersonal and compulsory-- something one might do to mark a "fallen monument."

The rose in the title of Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" can be seen as a means of suggesting that the story is intended to be a sort of love story.

As a symbol the rose is commonly associated with love, romance and courtship. Oddly enough, Emily's story is one of romance and romantic vision. Although the love affair is kept a secret in Emily's story, her desire to love and to be loved is powerful enough for her to keep the corpse of her murdered lover in a bed upstairs in her house. 

This is, obviously, a strange manifestation of the romantic impulse but it is nonetheless related to the romantic impulse and so Emily's story can be seen as one of love's necessity (even in or despite insanity and/or difficult circumstances). Seen in this light, the rose of the story's title refers to the romantic nature of the tale and, more specifically, suggests that this is the history of one woman's sole, great love affair.

"As a lady might press a rose between the pages of a history of the South, she keeps her own personal rose, her lover, preserved in the bridal chamber where a rose color pervades everything" (eNotes).

Another way to understand the significance of the rose is to consider the physical nature of roses in addition to their romantic connotations. Roses possess a great beauty but also have thorns. Emily's love life was not one of beauty alone (if there was much beauty at all) and as an object of love Emily was not without an aspect of danger. 

She kills her lover (Homer) perhaps as a rose might prick an admirer. 

In 1959, during an interview, Faulkner implied that Miss Emily deserved a rose--a symbol of beauty--in part to make up for the wretched life imposed upon her by circumstances.  Faulkner essentially felt sympathy for Emily because she simply wanted to have a normal southern young woman's life-- a husband, children, a home--but these dreams were dashed by an over-bearing father who chased all her suitors away and essentially doomed Emily to a life without all those aspects of life everyone has a right to expect.

Even though Faulkner acknowledged that part of Emily's tragic life was the result of Emily's having broken the laws of man and God, Faulkner was most critical of Emily's father, who selfishly wanted her to stay unmarried in order to take care of him and put his welfare above that of his child's.

In the final analysis, though, Faulkner felt the the rose expressed the happy normalcy that Emily was denied in her life.

Roses are used in  commemoriation of events and accomplishments -- think of the Kentucky Derby winning horse.  This story could be considered a rose in that the narrator, while wanting to tell us a great story about the crazy lady who killed a man and left him in her upper rooms for years, also tells us  of some the details about her life that create sympathy for a lady who never really had what she wanted from life.  She has crazy relatives, a father who sent away all her suitors, and a "boy friend" who is "not the marrying kind."  While we don't applaud her actions, we come to understand them.  In a way, this story honors Emily, just like all of the townspoeple come out for her funeral, some out of curiosity and some from a sense of duty and respect for "the fallen monument" that is Miss Emily.

The rose in the title can be interpreted several ways. The rose is most often thought of as a symbol for love in which case Homer is the "rose" or love for Emily.  Her father thought no man was good enough for her or for the Grierson family.  Therefore she was never able to experience passion or the rose of love until she met Homer.  However, there is another meaning of rose to consider.  In Medieval times the rose was used as a sign of silence or secrecy.  A rose was hung from the ceiling at a meeting of secret societies indicating a demand for discretion.  The rose in the title of the story could therefore stand for Emily's secret; that is Homer her "rose" whom she cherished, loved and kept to herself even after his body was corrupted by the decay of time.

Emily is seen as a spinster in this story - an unmarried woman who is probably never going to get married. She does have an affair with one man that the town knows about. This is the affair with Homer. 

The title of the story relates to the idea that Emily had no love life, as Homer is seen to disappear, leaving the romance un-concluded, as it were. However, in the end, the town discovers that Emily had indeed found (or taken) a consort in the form of a dead body. 

Though this is a rather morbid notion, Emily does prove to have achieved a life of some romance, thus the title suggests that Emily does have a "rose" or has love in her life. 

Another element here is the burial. Emily is being remembered and buried at the opening of the story. In this way, the rose is for Emily's grave as well as being symbolic of her (deranged) love.

It is always difficult to assess an author's intentions in writing a particular text; it is much easier to assess what messages the text actually manages to convey, and then we can assume—if the writer was a good one (and Faulkner was)—that this is what they meant by writing it. In this story, Faulkner seems to suggest that the old Southern standards for ladies are not only oppressive and outdated, but actually compel women to rebel in sometimes terrible ways. Miss Emily's father evidently felt that "None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily [...]." As a result, she ended up quite alone when he died. She'd been taught to be a lady, "a slender figure in white in the background," and she was rendered utterly alone by her father's death. Made desperate by her oppression and subsequent abandonment, she took up with Homer Barron—a big, loud, Yankee "day-laborer"—a man her father would have hated. Then, rather than risk being abandoned by him too, she kills him. Confined to a very particular role, Miss Emily likely felt quite disempowered by her father's rigid and antiquated values and expectations; later, too proud to admit it, she did find a way to deal with the loneliness her father's rules caused.

While it's almost impossible to know exactly why any author or writer writes something—it is simply their craft, their art—by studying Faulkner's background and writing style, we can gather some possible reasons why he came to write the story "A Rose for Emily."

"A Rose for Emily" falls under the genre of Southern Gothic, which is the style or genre Faulkner is most well-known for. His work often features grotesque characters, the antebellum south, and other tropes of the South. However, Faulkner said in a letter to Malcolm Cowley,

"I’m inclined to think that my material, the South, is not very important to me. I just happen to know it, and don’t have time in one life to learn another one and write at the same time."

In other words, Faulkner was just writing what he knew because he grew up and lived in the south, and "A Rose for Emily" is another example of him writing what he knew.

Also, something interesting to note is that "In 1929 he had purchased a large antebellum house, the Sheegog place, renaming it Rowan Oak." "A Rose for Emily" was published in 1930, and the story prominently features the large antebellum house of Miss Emily Grierson, so it's likely that Faulkner got the inspiration for the house in the story from his own house.

Also, it is noteworthy that Faulkner had many financial issues at this time, so he also could have written the story simply because he needed the money.

David Minter's book William Faulkner: His Life and Work (1980) offers very interesting insight on the life of author William Faulkner, particularly on how the stories he heard in his youth directly affected his own choices, in terms of themes and writing styles.

As a young man, Faulkner grew up consistently listening to tales of the Civil War, directly from veterans themselves, including stories of his father and grandfather. He also would hear these stories in the town square of Oxford in Yoknapatawpha County, and even from his mammy, Miss Caroline, who would be his watchful guardian since he was a small child. Mammy Caroline, an ex-slave, was not just in charge of William, but she was also his caregiver, and much like a second mother to him, as well. 

This being said, Southern legends made a huge mark in the overall psyche of Faulkner, who was, by nature, already a fantastic observer of history, nature, and art. The imagery of the once-almighty South falling apart under the attacks of the unlikable Yankees was one which reigned supreme  among the minds of those who participated actively in the Civil War, and the generations which immediately followed. Even today there is a particular respect rendered to the history of the Confederacy, despite of the controversy caused by the use of the flag and other symbols related to it.

Back to the story, Faulkner himself had a lot to say about the character of Emily, specifically

...Here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute…to a woman you would hand a rose.

The tragedy is not just that of Emily's alone. It is the tragedy of those who feel just like her: vulnerable, scared, alone, and unable to shift toward the present.

From a social and historical perspective, which permeates the story, Faulkner also warns those who cannot move away from the past to look at Emily and see what the dangers are. Faulkner surely noted that the stories of the South seem to be stuck in time; as if the Southerners forget what took place, they will feel like the accomplices of the invaders. However, all that is left of those who refuse to change, are the mere shells of what once was great, and now is no longer. Like Emily, those who refuse to move on become "fallen monuments", which later on become "eyesores among eyesores". 

Therefore, the story is written as a cautionary tale on the dangers of rejecting the reality of change. It is also written as a way to honor those who are stuck in that vicious cycle, against their will, and seem unable to be set free. 

Roses need not be literally spoken of to have power.  Think of roses and their various roles in human life.  Roses are often present at weddings, a promise of love despite hardship, the combination of pain and beauty. 

However, roses because of their strong odor, are also used in funeral homes to cover the stench of decay.  In Faulkner's day as well, older ladies, those of the late 1800s, favored rose water parfumes as a means of hiding bodily odor (no deodorants then, you know.)  Emily tries hard to be something she is not...young, engaging, marriageable. 

The covering of stench could be applied to a variety of characters:  the town in its neglect of one of its own, Emily in covering the death of her lover, the dead flowers symbolic of Homer's apparently neglected promise. 

Additionally, it has been traditional for brides and lovers to press and preserve roses.  The rose of the title then, may symbolize Emily's stagnant dreams for a life with Homer.

Or, one could view the rose as the narrator's offer of friendship, extended too late.  Like a clipped rose, life itself is short and once it is gone, the rose can never be restored to its previous glory. 

The rose is symbolic...a sort of nod in her direction for her success as an aristocratic representative, the last of her kind, and the conquerer of Homer Baron.

The rose is also symbolic of love and of her life.  It was beautiful, soft, protected, with a few thorns.  Her southern heritage enveloped her and protected her in the dullness of the rules that she followed almost without question.  Her father also protected her from marriage to unsuitable men, and then from taxes as he died leaving her alone with Toby.

Since the story "A Rose for Emily" never mentions a rose, readers are often confused by the title. William Faulkner is said to have answered the question by declaring that the story itself is a tribute to Miss Emily, so the rose stands for an honor bestowed. The author's explanation need not be the final word in discussions of literary interpretations, however, so other theories for the rose in the title have been suggested. 

One idea is that it represents romance. Roses are the most common flower we associate with romantic relationships nowadays; people often send roses to their beloved on Valentine's Day. Miss Emily's romance with Homer Barron is the defining moment of her life--a time when she appeared to be happy-go-lucky and in love, but a time from which she could not move on, as exhibited by her murder of Homer and subsequent preservation of his corpse in her bed. So although the story is ultimately about murder, it is also about romance.

Some have suggested that Homer's corpse is the rose--a dried, pressed rose as a memento of a happy time. When Emily's bedroom is opened for the first time in forty years, the narrator describes the rose-tinted color of the room. This could signify that the room itself is the rose, preserved for Emily's reflection for decades after she ended Homer's life. 

Finally, the rose is a symbol of secrecy. The term sub rosa, or under the rose, means secretly. Roses were carved on ceilings and on confessionals to remind people of the confidentiality of the conversations that took place there. Faulkner's story is full of secrets: the Baptist minister won't divulge what happened in his meeting with Emily; Emily won't tell the druggist what she wants the poison for; Emily's servant Tobe never talks to anyone about what goes on at his mistress's house; and Emily keeps Homer's death and interment in her bedroom a secret for forty years. Thus the title could be another way of saying "Emily's Secret." 

Faulkner's interesting and enigmatic title for his short story allows many interpretations. 

The rose in the title could be the narrator's (or author's) way of issuing a tribute to Miss Emily.  The narrator seems to have sympathy for the narrator and never speaks badly of her.  He (I'm assuming the narrator is a "he") only conveys what the townspeople say and think of her, for example. The reader can sense, through the narrator's writing style and diction,some sympathy for Miss Emily.  Because the narrator discusses some of her background and how her father isolated her so much, the reader can find sympathy for her, too.  

William Faulkner's sympathetic explanation of his title points to the paradoxical remark that he once made, "I love the South; I hate the South."  So, while he has symbolized the decadence of the Old South, Faulkner has also paid tribute to it.

At the funeral, the men's having dressed symbolically in their Confederate uniforms leads to this underlying tribute to the South.  While they hollowly imagine that they have courted Miss Emily and danced with her, they do also praise her as part of the legendary South that refuses to die.  For, although Emily is humiliated by Homer's leaving her and his lower class standing, like the redoubtable South of old, Emily rises again when he returns and defeats the Northerner by killing him.  Thus, Faulkner's rose is both a symbol of sympathy for Emily, and an acknowledgement of her passion and Southern pride, proving the narrators' observance that "with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her"; namely, the pride, honor, and "gumption" of the Old South.

William Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily" holds close to the traditions of the Old South.  In that time, much like  the Arthurian legends, women were to be guarded, cherished, and treasured. Miss Emily Grierson, the story's main character, secluded herself from the rest of society, symbolic of a time that was passing away.  Her father had protected her so much that he prevented her from living a normal life: no beaus or even friends. When he died,  Colonel Satoris, the town's mayor, lied to keep Emily from having to pay taxes for her property.  Early in the story, the reader is told:

Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; sort of hereditary obligation upon the town..."

But the new south did not find the traditions necessary.  The town would require Miss Emily to pay her taxes and would place a street number on her house. 

The story begins with the funeral of Miss Emily.  Her death rings in the passing of the genteel way of life, replaced by the new generation's crass way of doing things.  Both Miss Emily and her house deteriorated through time and neglect, a transitory passing from the ethereal beauty  of the past to the ugliness of the present.

Throughout the story, the main character is endowed with the respectful title of a spinster: Miss.  However, with the gruesome discovery in the upstairs bridal chamber and a gray hair on the pillow, the author fails to use the designation in the title of the story.  In death she now just Emily, a lonely woman rejected by the town and the man she loved.

A rose, never actually seen on the story, was given as a token of friendship, beauty, or love in Faulkner's south.  In the title, the rose represents the ambivalence of Emily herself. Miss Emily deserved a rose.  Yet, she garnered not one.  The town had not pulled her in, come to her rescue, nor treasured her as a remnant of the past.  Instead it had shunned her, gossiped about her, and allowed her to wither away like the dying petals of a rose.

Miss Emily and her secret life slip into the reader's memory: the rose-colored room with the dust and cobwebs; the bridal dress waiting to be worn; and Homer tucked away like a rose pressed between the pages of a book, seldom used, but at times opened and held.

Faulkner himself explained the reason for his choice of the title:

It [The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it and I pitied her and this was a salute...to a woman you would hand a rose.

In the end,  Emily received her rose.

"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner ranks as a masterpiece in American Literature.  Miss Emily Grierson, the protagonist, is an enigmatic character.  The reader feels as though he knows her, but she is profoundly mysterious.

The story spans over seventy four years: the time of Emily's life. Jefferson, her home town, represents all of the small southern towns in the south and in Faulkner's writing, Mississippi. Emily's life begins pre-Civil War when the "Old South" cherished women. 

In the "Old South"  in the upper and middle class, men protected, cherished, loved, and dominated women.  Men took care of everything outside of the house. Inside the house, women spent their time preparing for the men to return and eat or pleasure themselves. 

This was the life style of Emily with one exception. Her father reigned over the entirety of her life while he was alive.  He  kept her from happiness by sending away or rejecting all of her suitors or boyfriends. He wanted her for himself as his companion [not in a perverted way], and he would have what he wanted.

Unfortunately, when he died, Emily was about thirty years old, and in those times she would have been called a spinster or old maid.  She did have one boyfriend after her father died, but he left her.  Although the reader is not told why, it may have been because her father left her penniless.  What a selfish man to have kept her from happiness and then to leave her with nothing but her house.

Life was not easy for Emily.  She was alone, looked upon as an oddity, and left to her own devices.  As the south changed, Emily did not.  She did not accept death.  When her father died, she kept him from the undertaker for three days saying that he was not dead.  At the age of 65, the new council men tried to make Emily  pay her taxes,  and she referred them to Colonel Sartoris who had been dead for many years. 

Of course, the one that she never let go  was Homer Barron.  He tried to leave her, but she did not allow it.  With the help of her servant, Emily kept this man all to herself for about forty years.  Evidently, the town knew something about it:

Already we knew that there was one room in that region above stairs which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have to be forced.They waited until Miss Emily was decently in the ground before they opened it.

The town knew and did nothing while she was alive.  Insanity ran in her family the gossips told the reader.  But no one in the town was willing to intervene and help Emily.

In reviewing the story, a critic asked Faulkner about the rose in the title.  It was never mentioned in the story.  Faulkner replied that if anyone in the world deserved something beautiful and representative of a more genteel life it was Miss Emily.  She had suffered long enough.  So the author gave Emily Grierson her rose in the title of the story. 

There is actually no mention of a rose anywhere in the story, and that is part of what makes the title of the story all the more intriguing and significant.  In order to come up with an idea about the rose reference in the title you must first brainstorm what you know about roses and what you associate with roses.  Your list could include some of the following ideas:

1.  Roses are beautiful, but deceptive, as they have thorns.

2.  We associate roses with love -- white ones for a wedding, red to express true love, etc.

3.  We use roses as a flower of tribute -- think of weddings, funerals, pageant winners, actresses after a performance, even the winner of the Kentucky Derby horse race is given a wreath of roses to wear around its neck.

With all that in mind, you need to then connect those ideas to the character of Miss Emily.  The narrator of the story tells a shocking story of Miss Emily and her keeping of the murdered body of Homer Barron in her upstairs room, but he also spends a good deal of the story explaining what kind of person Miss Emily was and how she was treated in her life.  He ends up creating a character that we could have some sympathy for.  While no one would say it is OK that she killed a man so that he wouldn't leave her, the narrator explains how her father drove away all of suitors and how the town treats Emily with a mix of pity and annoyance through the years.  This story then is a tribute of sorts to Miss Emily.  The narrator is careful to give us a more sympathetic and developed characterization of a sad and pathetic woman, and that is a kind of tribute to her, rather than merely presenting the shocking gruesomeness of her actions with and against Homer.

This story is about an eccentric old lady who lives in a small town in the South. She comes from an important family that was highly revered by the town. Emily refuses to adapt to the times and has little involvement with any of the town members as she grows older. She feels no need to explain herself to anyone or conform to any of their norms. The town remains somewhat infatuated with rumors about her.

Later, we learn that she has a dark secret that she has kept for many years. She poisoned only man she ever dated, Homer Barron, and kept his corpse in a bed in her house. We later learn she had lain in the position of an embrace with the corpse until her hair had turned gray.

I don't understand your question.  Have you read Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and you don't understand it?  Or have you not read it and you want someone to tell you what happens so you don't have to read it?

I'll tell you what's at the center of the story in case you don't understand it, but I won't give you plot details so you don't have to read it.

Faulkner often writes about the South in the period following the Civil War.  The South was devastated by the war:  its economy was destroyed, and most of the battles and raids and destruction took place in the South.  This story is about the recovery, or lack of it.  It is a bit of an allegory about refusing to let go of a glorious past. 

Emily, once a member of the aristocracy, has been "reduced" to a "commoner," so to speak.  And she refuses to accept the reduced status. 

The story is allegorically about the lengths a person will go to in order to hold on to a glorious past. 

Literally, the story is about an old woman (well, she is not old the whole time) who is very desperate for love.  She has a guy who she thinks she is going to marry but he, apparently, dumps her.  Something like thirty years later, she dies and her house is inspected.  When people look through it, they find that she has had the guy's dead body up in her room the whole time and has been sleeping with it.

In terms of message, the story is about what lengths a person can be driven to when she is desperate.  It is about the damage that can be done to a person's psyche when she is isolated and friendless.

I can think of three reasons that the name Emily may have been chosen for the title of William Faulkner's short story. First, Emily has always been a popular name in Western culture, so the author may have wanted to show that she was of common heritage. On the other hand, the name "Emily" is derived from the old Latin/Roman names Aemilia and aemulus. In Latin, aemulus is defined as "rival," a distinction that Faulkner may have wanted to illustrate. Aemilia (or Aimilia) was one of the most important families in ancient Rome, and many of its members held high positions for centuries. Faulkner may have chosen this name to symbolize the former power of Emily's own family name, the Griersons. Additionally, as the other post mentioned, Faulkner may also have sought a comparison to poet Emily Dickinson who, like Emily Grierson, lived a sheltered life (rarely leaving her home) under a domineering father before dying a maiden spinster with no children to carry on the name.

Roses are used as a tribute or celebration at many different functions--funerals, garden parties, grand parties for heads-of-state, and on church alters to celebrate the births of children and anniversaries of their parents' marriages. 

Therefore, Faulkner titles the story "A Rose for Emily" as a sort of tribute.  It's a nod in her direction for her stateliness, for what she represented--the Old South and all its glory.  He is giving her kudos for the guts it took for her to live her life the way she did.  Believe it or not, it takes an enormous amount of nerve and strength to live by other people's rules all the time.  Once her father dies, she continues to live by his rules with the exception of Homer Baron.  Once she becomes aware that Homer intends to leave, she does the only thing she can to protect her family name and her reputation.  Faulkner admires her strength of purpose and the woman she is.  He gives her a rose for all of these reasons.  Of course, we only learn about all of this after the fact.  She is already dead, and the funeral is either over or in the making.  The rose could also be in honor of this.  Remember that roses are beautiful...just like Emily, the south, the old way of living...but no rose is without a thorn.  These thorns would represent the tragedies in Emily's life as well--the fall of the south, her father's death, her financial ruin, the murder of Homer Baron.

As you may have probably already noticed, there is no "rose", verbatim, to give to Emily in the story. Any allusion to a "rose" can be found in  the description of Emily's bridal chamber.

...upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon the delicate array of crystal and the man's toilet things backed with tarnished silver, silver so tarnished that the monogram was obscured. 

Even though the word "rose" is being used as an adjective, as in "the color rose", and not as a noun, as in "the flower rose", all that we can do is speculate as to why would a woman select such a feminine and young color for a bridal chamber.

The answer is that use of the color pink as a detail of the bridal chamber could appeal to the rationale that Emily is as naive and inherently innocent as a young woman. The excessive influence of her father in her life rendered her a "weakling" who could not really establish normal dynamics, such as having relationships with males and exploring who she is, as a woman. 

This latter premise is what motivates the title in the first place. Miss Emily is  seen as a "town fixture", or as an icon from the past. She is considered enigmatic, moody, eccentric, and even insane. However, if her life had been normal, and had she been given a chance to thrive, she would have behaved like a typical woman; she would have never become "Miss Emily", the strange lady from Jefferson County. Instead, she may have simply be known as "Emily". As such, she would have received the honors and attentions that are inherent to courtship, and bestowed upon pretty, young ladies. Therefore, if Miss Emily had been a typical female she would have received her "rose", from a beau or admirer 

Poor Emily never had that chance. Her disastrous relationship with Homer just re-emphasizes the fact that Emily is strange and not quite entirely normal. 

These facts would agree with the information that Faulkner himself gave an interviewer 

[The title] was an allegorical title;[...] here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute…to a woman you would hand a rose. 

Therefore, the title is a way to give Emily the honor and admiration that she may never receive otherwise. The author wants to address, by her first name, the lady everyone regards to, irreverently, as Miss Emily. 

The author of "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner himself explained his title,

The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute…to a woman you would hand a rose

Calling Emily Grierson by her first name rather than "Miss Emily" grants her the commonality with all of humanity that she deserves.  It also frees her from the patriarchal Old South landed gentry society to which she has belonged. For, as Miss Emily, she was imprisoned emotionally as she was subjected to the will of her father along with her station as "a tradition, a duty, and a care" of the townspeople who referred to her in this way.

With the use of the word rose occurring twice as a verb, first with the aldermen having risen after Emily has entered the room when they have come to collect taxes, and then in the last section when the dust of the room "rose" about the people's legs, the connotations of this verb both suggest the tragedy of Emily's reclusive life, a life lived in the past.  While all is green outside, Emily has lived within the confines of her house, seen only rarely.  In a sense, Emily has been married to death; so, she poisons Homer to keep him, too, inside with death in the rose-colored room, suggestive of the sunset.  The "rose for emily" is like the rose one places on the coffin as it descends the grave, a final sentiment to one who has experienced the tragedy of never having truly lived freely.  Calling her "Emily" rather than "Miss Emily" finally frees her from her social imprisonment.

William Faulkner is most highly regarded by some critics for his short stories rather than his novels and like "A Rose For Emily" many are set in the south. In fact, many of the characters he presented firstly in his short stories appear as more developed characters in his novels. He often used his short stories to fill in the gaps of the historical development of Yoknapatawpha county even from the first arrival of the white man. For example, "A Rose For Emily" covers nearly three generations of time. Faulkner himself knew the importance of heredity and family background history and was able to write about the idea of reputation. He came from a similar family and also knew that such families could be arrogant to the p;oint of unreality - as in Emily's case.

Keep in mind, too, that Faulkner may have titled this story as a way to pay homage and tribute to all that Miss Emily Grierson stood for in her life.  Think about it...SHE WON.  It is the eternal North vs. South and the South got the last laugh in this story.  Even though her victory is an ominous secret until after her death and her colored servant runs away allowing anyone and everyone entrance to the house, her victory is at last announced.  Homer may have broken her heart, and he may have even muddied Emily's fine reputation, but he did not live to brag about it.  The rose for Emily is a tip of the hat for her gumption and spunk for which southerners have often been celebrated.

What is also important about the title is that it is "A Rose for Emily," not "A Rose for Miss Emily." In other words, the title deliberately takes away from the character the word that, in the context of the story, suggests the town's respect for her, her ability to intimidate the town, as well as the traditions,now disappearing, that involve referring to a white woman with prestige in this way.  Taking away the "Miss" brings Emily down to a more human level: she is no longer a monument and symbol of the past; in her death, she becomes equal to everyone else--a fact of death that Faulkner frequently considers. When we die, markers of gender, race, wealth, and status no longer matter.

The title of a story is never accidental. The author usually connects the title in some way to one of the literary elements, such as theme, setting, or symbolism. In this story, the rose is the biggest symbol of the story.

A rose stands for life, beauty, love, passion, and even death. Miss Emily lived a life that involved much death and denial, but she didn't have much love or passion. The rose is a tribute to her life and her death, also serving to symbolize Homer Barron's death. In the end, Homer was found all dried out and had been kept in Emily's room in the attic for her to cherish. The irony is that Emily's life wasn't beautiful at all, but a rose is one of nature's most beautiful creations.

This symbolism is shown in Miss Emily's loneliness and her inability to let go of the past. She needed to keep the past alive in order to feel less lonely. Not willing to let her father's body be taken shows this need because if she lets go of him, she is all alone. When she met Homer, she paraded him in public, and "she carried her head high enough even when we believed she had fallen." Emily's sad life is also shown by the death smells coming from her house, but the last scene tells it all. It is a tomb of her eternal loneliness. "A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bride."

"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner presents an intricate plot and fascinating time sequel.  The story belongs to Miss Emily Grierson, a lady of the Old South. 

Emily has had to endure many hardships in her life.  Her father dominated her life, refusing to allow her to have boyfriends. When he died, Emily was about thirty. 

When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized. Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less.

He left her alone, penniless, with only her home belonging to her.

About two years later, Homer Barron comes to town and begins to squire Emily around in a horse and buggy on Sundays.  What Emily does not know is that Homer has self-acclaimed that he likes men. 

The women in town begin to gossip about Emily, thinking that Homer is ruining her reputation. They call in the minister and her cousins, but, in the end, Emily convinces everyone that she and Homer are going to be married. She purchases a man watch, nightshirt, and other men's toiletries labeled with HB. 

It was also about this time that Emily purchases some arsenic from the druggist.  Possibly, it was to kill a rat. 

Not to long after this, Homer Barron is seen going into Emily's house through the back door.  That is the last time that he is seen.

Some of the neighbors begin to smell a stench around the Emily's house. Rather than embarrass her, several of the men take lime and spread it around the house to kill the odor.  Emily observes them from the upstairs window. 

When Emily dies about 40 years later, nothing much has happened in her life. She gave some china painting lessons and the new council tried to make her pay her taxes.  She referred them to Colonel Sartoris, who had been dead for many years.

Tobe had  been her only companion.  When she died in her downstairs chair, Emily was given a funeral worthy of a grand old dame of the south. Tobe lets in the public and goes out the back door never to be seen again.  Finally, the townspeople will break into the upstairs bedroom and discover the skeleton of Homer Barron and a pillow next to him with Emily's gray hair on it.

Since there is no mention of a rose in the story, Faulkner answered the question for all the readers.  Emily led such a tragic life. Nothing really good happened to her, so he gave her a rose in the title of the story.

I don't believe an actual rose is ever mentioned specifically in William Faulkner's classic short story, "A Rose for Emily." The color of a rose is referred to twice in the final paragraphs, however.

A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color. upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table...

I believe the use of the word "rose"--universally a symbol of love--is used to symbolically illustrate the lost love that Miss Emily lived with for so long. She was a woman so desirous of love and so unable to show it. The title also seems to be a kind of final salute to Emily, a symbol of flowers for a funeral, perhaps; a need for the sweet smell of the flower in a house filled with the stench of death; or possibly even a suggestion of the various stages of blooming that the flower goes through. In the end, we find that Emily has preserved Homer's body even as it turns to dust, not unlike the manner in which a person who has received a rose preserves it for posterity.

There is no actual rose (as in a flower) in the story, although many of the things found in Miss Emily's room after she dies are rose colored.

I believe that the rose that the title refers to is actually Homer Barron, or at least his body.  His body has been kept in her room, all dried up and withered, just like a rose that someone would keep as a souvenir of some old dance or something like that.

So, I think that the rose of the title is actually him and that the title is meant to show how she had this one bit of life, thirty years ago, and has been holding on to the memory ever since.

The rose in the title can be interpreted as a tribute of respect for Miss Emily who has lived a life dominated by her controlling father, the social requirements of the South and circumstances beyond her control.

Miss Emily grows up in the waning years of the great South, the plantation society that her father dominated prevented her from marrying.  He found all her suitors unacceptable, beneath her socially, rejecting one then another.  Miss Emily is thus left alone, with no husband, no family. 

Her father's death frees her to a degree, although a little late for her to capture the joy that she was denied.  However, she begins to go around with Homer Barron, the Yankee laborer.  This behavior creates quite a scandal in the town, whose reaction results in the calling of Miss Emily's family in another town to come and stop her from making a terrible mistake.  The town is perched on the edge of their collective seat waiting to see Miss Emily marry the Yankee, an act of true degredation.

However, they are surprised to learn, or so they believe, that Homer Barron has left town, never to be seen again.  Miss Emily grows old in her house, alone, except for the servant who assists her.  When she dies, the town can't wait to get inside to look at the remnants of the recluse, Emily's life.  They are however shocked to discover that Homer Barron never left town, but was murdered and his body placed on a bed where it rotted and decomposed.

Miss Emily, it appears, slept next to the remains of Homer Barron, as evidenced by the gray hair found on a pillow.  

I think that the rose in the title is a way of expressing both respect and remorse for Miss Emily's life, a life dominated by death, loss and loneliness.   

Although Emily murders Homer Barron in this narrative, the story is less about Emily's act of murder and more about Emily herself and her experiences with death. The murder of Homer is indeed a significant component of the plot, but there are many other elements that contribute to William Faulkner's protagonist, Emily. Emily deals with and/or faces death in various capacities throughout the narrative. Faulkner's reason for choosing "A Rose For Emily" as the title could be interpreted in various ways, as the symbol of a rose may carry various meanings. Considering the heavy emphasis upon the theme of death throughout the narrative, one might understand the title as a symbol of condolence following a death or as an honoring of a memorial or monument (as Emily is so perceived by the men during her funeral). Another potential meaning for the title could be in reference to the romantic relationship between Emily and Homer and the potential expectation of marriage between them.

The first instance of Emily dealing with death is in the case of her father, when she wishes not to accept the reality of his passing and in fact avoids it. It is several days after his death that she finally breaks down and the people have the opportunity to bury his body. Here, Emily experiences a significant loss with the death of her father. However, her father had also withheld romantic relationships from her, resisting suitors that had come to call upon her in the past. 

Although Emily appeared in public less often after the death of her father, she managed to meet and connect with Homer Barron. Emily's purchasing of a men's toiletry kit and Homer's visits to her home were enough for the people of the town to understand the direction in which the relationship was headed. At one point, after Emily had purchased arsenic and Homer had visited her home, Homer was never seen again. This, then, is the second instance in which Emily interacts with death, in this case, the murder of her lover, Homer Barron. Perhaps the romantic meaning of the title is made plain in the relationship between Emily and Homer, as well as in Emily's attempt to keep the relationship and Homer even after his death. In this interpretation, Homer might be considered Emily's rose, embodying both the romantic and honorary characteristics of the rose symbol.

Finally, the last instance of death in Faulkner's narrative is Emily's own. At this point, the people of the town come to her home as part of her funeral. The people then discover that Emily has kept the dead body of Homer in a locked room in her home. Apparently, Emily would lie with him even after his death, as made evident by the strand of gray hair found on the pillow next to him. This particular scene could again allude to the romantic symbolism of the rose with Emily keeping the dead body of her lover for herself. However, the honorary symbolism of the rose may also be applied to this scene, as the people attend her funeral in honor of her life and death.

If I understand your question correctly, you're asking why the story is called "A Rose for Emily" rather than " A Flower for Emily," right?

First, let's take a look at Faulkner's own explanation for the title:

"[The title] was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute…to a woman you would hand a rose." (This Faulkner quote comes from this book on Google Books.) 

Faulkner is saying that even though no one gives Emily a rose or even a flower in the story, he saw her as a women to whom one would want to give a rose, because they felt for her and her tragic situation. Many readers certainly feel that he accomplished this in the writing of the story, as even though Miss Emily is arrogant, haughty, and a creepy murderer, she is also a pitiable character. 

As to why Faulkner would use a "rose" in the title instead of another flower, or the word "flower" in general, I would say that the word was chosen for the connotations it evokes. A rose is a classic flower, just as Miss Emily is a classic example of an aristocrat from the antebellum South. Both are traditional and rather old-fashioned. Additionally, a rose is a traditional symbol of romance, and so it is relevant to the love story that Miss Emily was never really able to have. 

In 1959, Faulkner gave an interview in which he answered the question why he titled the story, "A Rose for Miss Emily."

Essentially, Faulkner said that the story was about a woman who had "no life at all."  Her father, the real villain of the story, had prevented Emily from having a normal life--he sent away every eligible suitor she had when she was of marriageable age because they were, from the father's viewpoint, unsuitable.  So, her life centered on the care of her father, and she was deprived of a normal upper-class woman's life--finding love, getting married, having children and a home.  Instead, she spent her productive years taking care of an intensely selfish father who "wanted a housekeeper."  Faulkner then said the natural instinct for domestic life, if it is repressed, comes out "very likely in a tragic form," in Miss Emily's case, as a completely perverted attempt to replicate the normal life that she couldn't have.

In the end, according to Faulkner, even though she was a murderess, she deserved such a simple thing as a beautiful rose to make up for the life she was never allowed to have.

Here is the link to the book by Cohen:

https://www.google.com/#pq=on+its+face+a+rose+is+an+emblem&hl=en&sugexp=pfwl&tok=CJ6CGrahRFae3N0FPMlYOQ&ds=bo&cp=9&gs_id=10&xhr=t&q=faulkner+on+its+face+a+rose+is+an+emblem&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&tbm=bks&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=faulkner+on+its+face+a+rose+is+an+emblem&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=13920af98b06b080&biw=1138&bih=555

The title of William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” seems relevant to the story in a number of possible ways:

• To give a rose to someone is to show appreciation to that person, perhaps even affection. The title may thus be seen as indicating a kind of wry tribute to Emily.  In some ways the story presents her as a strange (and estranged) eccentric, but its depiction of her is never brutally satiric or mocking. Faulkner himself said of the title that it

was an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who had had a tragedy, an irrevocable tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute, just as if you were to make a gesture, a salute, to anyone; to a woman you would hand a rose . . .

• The rose seems appropriate, at least in conventional and stereotypical terms, because Emily is a woman. Roses even today are more often presented to women than to men.
• Faulkner makes something beautiful and memorable out of the sad story of Emily’s life; the story is a kind of rose presented to her as a tribute to her suffering.
• Just as Emily was once young and then faded into old age, so roses also inevitably lose their vitality and beauty.
• The rose has been seen as a symbol of the kind of ideals that motivate Miss Emily as she grows older in a town whose values are increasingly less genteel, and more materialistic, than hers.
• For other possibilities, see Tom Cohen’s book Anti-Mimesis from Plato to Hitchcock (linked below).

Since the rose of the title is symbolic, the reader must search for the meaning of this symbol. Interestingly, William Faulkner does not indicate the color of the rose for Emily.  Therefore, the rose can have a number of meanings.  Traditionally, of course, red roses symbolize love and passion; however, other colors suggest innocence and truth (white), friendship and freedom (yellow), and desire (coral), and grace, gentleness, and joy (rose).  The single rose conveys the meaning of "I love you."

That Faulkner leaves the meaning of "A Rose for Emily" rather ambiguous, the reader must look to the text for meanings.  In one passage, for instance, the narrator suggests Emily's innocence in believing that she need pay no taxes:

Only a man of Colonel Sartoris' generatin and thought could have invent it, and only a woman could have believed it.

In Part II of the story, the reader learns that Emily Grierson has been deserted by her sweetheart.  Here the passion of Emily, the red rose of her life, has left, and the townspeople remember "all the young men her father had driven away."  Then, after her father dies, the townspeople feel that Emily has become humanized in her freedom from her patriarchal domination as

...she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less. (yellow rose)

However, with the appearance of Homer Barron, Emily's passion seems to have been rekindled.  But, when he departs, she is not seen on the streets for some time.  The narrator comments that 

 Then we knew that this was to be expected, too; as if that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman's life so many times had been too virulent and too furious to die. (coral rose)

In Part V, after Emily dies, the authorities break down the door of Emily's home and amid the "thin, acrid pall of the tomb," they find a room furnished for a bride with curtains of "faded rose color" (pink), and they discover the body of Homer Barron lying on the bed in this room of faded rose.

Thus, William Faulkner's title, "A Rose for Emily," through the narrative, comes to symbolize the life of Emily, innocent, passionate, briefly free and joyous, and faded.  In a telling passage the narrator declares,

We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.

Therefore, in the final part of Faulkner's story, Emily clings to the single rose--"I love you"--in the form of the man who is the last would not marry her, Homer Barron.  The title, "A Rose for Emily" with relation to the final part symbolizes Emily's desperate attempt to hold all from which she has been robbed: desire, passion, joy, and love.

I've always heard the phrase which states, "Give me my roses while I live." I believe this statement means honor me while I am alive. Giving a rose can be a sign of honor. When Emily dies, she is honored with flowers. She lived her life without honor and acceptance. When she dies, she if finally honored and accepted and so the story is told in her memory.

Roses of different colors symbolize different emotions.  Thus without indicating the color of the rose, Faulkner may have used this symbol of love for a myriad of emotions, but all are tied to death as Emily's rose is given its most significant meaning at the story's macabre conclusion.

Faulkner himself stated that his title was meant to suggest that one gives a rose to such a woman who has suffered as Emily has.

The rose is also significant in its nature. Most roses are strikingly beautiful, but they are not hardy flowers. Hence the expression "the bloom is off the rose." Emily was a "flower" whose bloom was lost. In addition, while roses are beautiful flowers, they do have thorns that can tear at the flesh. Emily, in her time, was beautiful, but she grew up with so much baggage, that her "thorns" would no doubt have caused problems for anyone who become involved with her.

I get the sense in "A Rose for Emily" that Miss Emily's father does not find the men in town suitable for Emily. It may be a control issue whereas he is trying to manipulate her life, removing the choice from her hands. It may be because his is "Old South" and truly believes only someone extraordinary would do as a spouse. Perhaps he believes there is something a little "off" about his daughter.

When Emily starts to date Homer Baron, it's almost like she is rebelling. However, there are never any suitors after Homer because, as we find out later, he's the only one for her: and she has kept him (dead) in her home all these years.

It is interesting for us that the rose symbolises love and honour, but are also commonly used in funerals. The emphasis on the rose in the title therefore effectively emphasises the twin focus in this story on love and morbid tragedy as we are presented at the end of the story with Miss Emily's grim outcome of her love, and the way that she was compelled to poison her love in order to preserve both it and him. The indication that we are given that she slept every night next to the corpse of her lover reinforces the way that Miss Emily was not really part of the community and how she remained isolated and separate.

However, at the same time, there is a sense of something more in the title. "A Rose for Emily" sounds almost as if Faulkner is offering this "rose," or the story, as a token of remembrance for Miss Emily and the chivalrous, anachronistic values of the former South that have now, like Miss Emily, disappeared and vanished. Horrid and Gothic as the tale is, there is a real sense of loss and lament for the world in which Miss Emily dwelt and the values and customs that have now long vanished.

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” certainly has a major impact on readers, especially on the first reading, because it involves a shock that one would not expect but also because it deals with the themes of loneliness and the passage of time. Let’s look at this in more detail.

Miss Emily is something of a relic of the past. She is left over from another time, and she is left behind by the modern world. While many people respect her for the tradition she represents, they do not reach out to try to connect with her. Nor does she reach out to them. She once taught painting, but even that was long ago. Her world is quite different from the world of her neighbors, and this makes for a lonely life.

Miss Emily, like every other human being, desires love. But she does not know how to get that love. Emily’s father isolated her when she was young, for he believed that no one was good enough for her. This set the stage for her loneliness. Years later, after her father’s death, Emily became involved with Homer. But he was a Northerner and very much not a part of her culture. Still, everyone in town thought they would marry, until Homer simply disappeared.

The end of the story is shocking. After Emily’s death, the townspeople find a skeleton, all that is left of Homer, in bed. Emily, they deduce, has been sleeping in that bed, too. We are left to infer that Homer perhaps never intended to marry Emily at all and that rather than be left completely alone, Emily did the only thing she knew to do to keep part of Homer with her forever.