“Without Contraries is No Progression”： Contraries in William Blake’s “The Sick Rose”

As William Blake states， “without contraries is no progression”， and without contraries there would certainly have been no William Blake. The coexistence of contraries is one of the most striking features of Blake’s poems， especially in his collections Songs of Innocence （1788） and Songs of Experience （1794）. In these two collections， Blake uses paired poems to illustrate contrasting views of the same event， as he believes that once contraries are accepted， energy is created， progress is inevitable and reintegration occurs （Johnson 69）. This theory is also applicable in his single poem “The Sick Rose” through the use of contrary symbols： a rose and a worm. On the surface， it is about the naturalistic decay of a worm-eaten rose， while the ambiguous meanings carried by the two images make the poem open to interpretations. The essay aims at analyzing the contraries embodied by the rose and the worm from three pairs of contrasts： life and death， innocence and experience， sexuality and sin.

Firstly， by describing how bugs eat plants， Blake gives a philosophical insight into the circle of life and death. In Greek mythology， rose originated from Adonis， the deity of plants and rebirth， and the speed of its wilting makes it a symbol of the fragility of existence. As a contrast， the worm is an embodiment of death， decay， and the destructive power lurking in one’s life. Through the pairing of rose and worm， Blake illustrates the conflict of survival and destruction. The worm， under the cover of darkness “in the night” as an “invisible” and secret force， represents the potential and inevitable death that dooms the vulnerable and incompetent rose， thus uncovering the mortality of human life.

Secondly， by personifying the rose and worm in a corrupted love relationship， Blake exposes the conflict of innocence and experience and mirrors the increasingly depraved London. Due to such line as “dark secret love”， the poem could be interpreted as a love tragedy in which a man destructively infiltrates the heart of an innocent girl. In Christian romances， rose refers to female innocence， purity and sacred love； while worm stands for evil， lust and shame. By portraying the heart-broken of the rose， Blake not only claims that the pristine divine love would end in destruction， but also issues a warning towards the citizens whose innocence is corrupted by a new societal norm of chaos and promiscuity that comes with industrialization. During the Romantic period， people are so occupied with pursuing their individual， materialistic happiness that they have become self-centered and indifferent， leading to the loss of virtue inherited from the Victorian Era. By comparing the citizens who have lost their innocence to “the sick rose”， Blake wants to wake up the innocence in them and cast off their bondage of experience.

Thirdly， the penetration of a rose by a worm could be understood as the loss of a girl’s virginity， calling into question the paradox of sexuality and sin. In medieval English， “rose” is usually associated with the virginity of young girls， whereas the worm is a metaphor for a phallus （Gardner 110）. As a devout Christian， Blake’s sexual views are greatly influenced by religion， as many lines in this poem can be traced to the Bible： As for the worm’s “crimson joy”， it is associated with sin in the Old Testament： “though your sins be as scarlet， they shall be as white as snow； though they be red like crimson， they shall be as wool”. In addition， the worm may refer to the serpent in the story of the Fall of humankind as the seducer of Eve， and his invisibility， his occurrence in the night， his “dark secret love” all echo the Christian teachings that the devil lurks unseen and usually appears at night. With those meanings combined， the worm which enjoys his sexual pleasure at the expense of the suffering of the rose is regarded as sinful. In this light， by condemning the worm’s sexual assault against the rose， Blake claims that sexuality should be conducted in a moral way.

In conclusion， the key to reading William Blake’s “The Sick Rose” is the interpretation of the symbols “rose” and “worm”. Behind the literary description of a flower being eaten by a vermin， Blake also sheds lights on the contraries of life and death， innocence and experience， sexuality and sin. Those interpretations are interlinked and well-balanced in the poem， offering wisdom in a broad aspect and intriguing readers’ deeper contemplation.

References：

[1]Blake，William.“The Sick Rose”.Writing Essay about Literature： A Guide and Style Sheet（Seven Edition）[M].Beijing：Peking University Press，2006.

[2]Johnson， Mary Lynn & John E. Grant. Blake’s Poetry and Designs. Norton Critical Edition[J]. New York： W. W. Norton，2008.

[3]Worm.The Oxford English Dictionary. 7th ed[M]. Oxford： Oxford University Press，2005.

[4]Gardner， Stanley. Infinity on the Anvil[J]. Oxford： Basil Blackwell， 1954.

【作者簡介】趙馨蕾，華東師范大學本科生。