One of the wonderful things about poetry is that it can be interpreted in many ways depending on your perspective. William Blake’s “The Sick Rose” is an apt example of this idea. Within the poem, there are two main symbols: the rose and the worm. Blake, like most poets, does not give the reader a single or straightforward meaning for these symbols; the reader can interpret them within his or her unique perspective of the poem. Each interpretation of the poem could give a slightly different view on the themes of nature, love, and desire.

In the first line of the poem, the speaker tells the rose that it is sick. Then, the speaker tells the rose how it became sick: the worm. After the reader understands the basic story of the poem, he or she can move into the metaphorical ideas expressed by the symbols. Traditionally, a rose can symbolize love, beauty, or desire; sometimes, these are coupled with wariness because of the rose’s thorns. A worm conjures notions of death, decay, and rebirth. Worms feed on the dead, turning them into nutrients for new life. However, the worm in Blake’s poem is “invisible” and “flies.” This worm is not deep in the ground bringing about new life. Instead, he does the opposite of his nature and causes destruction with “his dark secret love.”

If the reader interprets the rose as symbolizing love and the worm as symbolizing corruption, “The Sick Rose” could be arguing that love is destroyed by corruption. Additionally, the worm’s desire is what brings about the death of the rose. It flies through the “howling storm” to reach the rose’s “bed of crimson joy.” It is the perverted desire of the worm that devastates the beauty and purity of the rose. No matter how the reader chooses to interpret these two symbols, the speaker of the poem views the sickness of the rose as a loss.