The Sick Rose

For my oral poetry presentation, I chose to focus on "The Sick Rose" by British author William Blake. I really am not the type of English major who is well-educated in the area of poetry. I am the type of English major who loves books like The Glass Castle and The Help. I had no idea what the poem meant, until I got some insight from a friend. 

In my opinion, the poem is about the sexual corruption of innocence in young women. The worm that Blake speaks of is obviously a phallic image that creeps into the "bed" (plant bed or literal bed) of a young woman and corrupts her. It makes me think that the poem is actually about rape, about young women who fall into lustful romances with men and are taken advantage of. 

I loved looking into the poem and finding deeper meanings within it. It was fun exploring and researching to see what others thought about it, and interesting learning about it. I'm glad after all that I chose this poem to research.