"The Sick Rose" by William Blake (Formalist Approach)

"The Sick Rose" by William Blake would take us to another view of love and its state. The poem is about the 'rose' in its own pomp and the secrecy that the 'worm' contributes tainted it. The rose,an object of beauty,symbolizes love and its natural presence. The worm resounds a tempting lover and it can also be an equivalent to a male sexual organ. It symbolizes mortality since it is earthbound. The bed,where the worm creeps denotes the earth,a flowerbed or simply,a lover's bed. The "crimson joy" can be both sexual happiness or shame. Shame for 'crimson' is dark and grim. As the imagery suggests,love is the only thing that can recognize its state but our culture infects it with shame and secrecy.