In the poem ‘The Sick Rose’, Blake presents how a rose is attacked by a destructive worm on a stormy night. In the poem, the cause of the rose’s sickness has been explained. The worm has seduced the rose. As a result, the rose has lost her innocence. Now, she looks pale. The rose is no longer a symbol of innocence, beauty, and modesty. It becomes a symbol of innocence destroyed by the experience. The poem symbolically presents the theme of the corruption of love by selfishness, of innocence by experience. In this sense, the rose’s sickness is the product of both repressed sexuality and the evil design of the Worm. So the title is appropriate.
