Thorny or Horny
A brief sexual analysis of William Blakes poetry
Moobyghost
(written back when I was in my first year of community college)
In 1794 William Blake wrote the small, eight line poem, The Sick Rose. Using this poem as a springboard I intend to show how his poetry often had deeper meanings including sexual encounters, religious taboos, and real life issues.
[FONT="]O Rose, thou art sick![/FONT][FONT="]The invisible worm[/FONT][FONT="]That flies in the night,[/FONT][FONT="]In the howling storm,[/FONT][FONT="]Has found out thy bed[/FONT][FONT="]Of crimson joy,[/FONT][FONT="]And his dark secret love[/FONT]
The reason I am starting with this poem is that every line in it is a sexual metaphor. Exploring the first line gives us the image of the rose, a sick one to be exact. A rose, when thought of it in a sexual manner references the female vagina. By this rose being sick this may refer to a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). Syphilis was rampant at this time as well as other diseases. Even though the condom was in use during this time in a very crude manner, it was still not widely used, and if it was used it was for preventing unwanted pregnancies more than stopping disease. Whether the rose was sick because of a STD or because of some other means is unknown.
The invisible worm is obviously a reference for a mans penis. When using the word invisible to describe his penis he leaves many possibilities. Some of these may include the fact that the male penis is covered up under clothes most of the time and not shown, or because during intercourse one may not see the penis that often, either way, an interesting use of the word invisible.
So what does his worm do in this poem, it flies through the night. A innocent line probably however if you look for the sexual connotation one could think about the fact most sexual encounters probably occurred at night. Especially if the two people were having an affair had to sneak off. His worm, in this poem, travels through a howling storm. I could only think of one metaphor for this one, however after talking to a friend, I realize I am not the only person to get a perverse meaning from it. The symbolism, sexually related of course, that I understood from this poem, would be the sounds that two lovers would make during sexual intercourse. So if you look at the first stanza alone, you could probably see an image of a man telling his lover that he is sorry she is sick because of their sexual encounters together.
In the nest line of the poem we have a simple line referring to finding the bed they shared. What found their bed was sickness, a sickness that came from their own lust. That line was simple compared to the next, which states Of crimson joy. That simple line of only three words can have so many meanings. The first of which comes to mind is passion and happiness. Maybe Blake just meant a happy place they shared. However there are so many meaning to the word crimson. Crimson during his time meant death, and he could be referring to her sickness again with that use. Crimson is also a color used to describe blood and could refer to his lovers menstrual cycle or to a sickness of the blood. These are just a few of possibilities for this line.
His Dark Secret Love, is the third line of the second stanza. Again, this line could have several meanings and I think Blake was proud of that, because the poem can come off both very innocent and sweet, or very raunchy and dirty. He could have just loved this woman with all his heart, whether it was an affair or not is unknown. However, he could be referring to the fact that maybe he himself could have carried this STD to his lover.
Lastly we have Does they life destroy. I understood this to be that his lovers life has now ended. Another person could take as not a physical death so much as an emotional one. Maybe his affair was found out. He could also be talking about how this disease has interrupted their lives that they once lived in favor for a less active life. This is not the only poem by Blake to feature sexual undertones or taboos. The Greek Translation Vortal has this to say on the matter of Blake and his Sexuality,
Probably Blake's most pungent 'moral' statement: 'Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires. The moral is quite clear here: if you lead a life of asceticism and renunciation of desires then it is not worth living. He also equates the genitals with beauty.
The Catholic religion at this time made it clear that sex was a lowly and sinful thing, and here was Blake stating that he liked to have sex, and was unmoved by the pressure of religion. Only when confronted with a lover illness due to his escapades does he pause and wonder about his nature. Suddenly his poems were not all sweet and innocent. His next collections of poems were called the Songs of Experience. This is where The Sick Rose comes from as well as The Tyger.
Tyger Tyger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes!
On what wings dare he aspire!
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger, Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
This poem asks a lot of questions to the reader as well as leaving some behind. Is the Tiger a symbol of his passion? Blake could be prowling around his city looking for his next lover to woo if he did have affairs. He could also be talking about his passion for his faithful wife. However this poem may not be about sex or passion at all, but about the more obvious topic of religion. One of the taboos of the time was to not talk about the church or God in a negative way. We know that Blake started to feel outrage towards the church and its corruption at the time. Maybe his poetry was starting to reflect those thoughts. One can see a transition in him from his early work to his latter. At first he was carefree and overjoyed, he loved, he wooed, and now he spoke of taboos. He was no longer a soft man, he was starting to be jaded by the real world and his work became more rigid.
In his poems London and The Human Abstract we start to see more real life issues and conditions over the old poems of nature and beauty. During this time in his life he also had to deal with the death of his father, and moving so many times. He struggled to make a living and fell into depression. Everywhere he looked around him he saw suffering and despair. He was living in a cesspool and had no beauty to write about. I can not help but to feel his pain after reading London.
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appals;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
That poem just reeks of sadness. After that you could read The Poison Tree and it just goes on and on. His words became sharper and could stab pains into ones heart. He lived till the age of sixty-nine where he died peacefully speaking about things he saw in heaven. I think now that Blake is one of the greatest poets the world has ever known and I just wish he had enjoyed his life a little bit more in the end like he did in the beginning. He started off as a loving youth with a thirst for nature. As he grew older he lusted for life and all experiences he could get. Then, sadly things around him seemed more bitter than sweet. I think that is they way it always is. When we are young we are so full of life and nothing affects us, then we grow older and see the harshness of the world. We wonder what happened to our youth and the joys it held. We become changed. I think in the end though he was happy with his life. So, yes Blake was a little horny in his youth, and as time moved on he became a little thorny and jagged around the edges. In the end though, he turned out just fine, and gave us some of the best poetry I have ever read. To end this paper I wish to quote one more of Blakes Works and that is a verse from The Marrige of Heaven and Hell.
Once meek, and in a perilous path,
The just man kept his course along
The vale of death.
Roses are planted where thorns grow.
And on the barren heath
Sing the honey bees.