Identify and provide a critical discussion of the linguistic/language features that the poet uses to create meaning in the poem "The Sick Rose".

“The Sick Rose” consists of two stanzas, with each stanza having four lines. Each stanza serves a specific purpose and central thought.

The first stanza serves to introduce the reader to the rose and the worm. The central thought of this first stanza is that the rose is sick. Foreshadowing is apparent as the worm is introduced as flying in a terrible storm. The reader can sense that something is going to happen--a possible clash between the rose and the worm.

The second stanza serves to show the reader the result of the clash between the rose and the worm. The central thought of this second stanza is that the rose has been found out by the worm and that the worm seeks to raze and destroy the rose.

The linguistic/language features that the English poet William Blake employs in his poem “The Sick Rose” include:

1. Personification

Blake likens the “invisible worm” to a person, and talks in this poem as if this worm is indeed a human being. This is evident in the following line where the worm keeps a secret:

“And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.”

2. Rhyme

Rhyme is a poetic device that lends a formal quality to the poem’s language. In stanza 1, line two rhymes (imperfectly) with line 4 – the words “worm” and “storm”.

In stanza two, line two rhymes (perfectly) with line four – the words “joy” and “destroy”.

3. Enjambment

This language device lends a particular flow to a poem. Enjambment is when a thought expressed does not end at the end of a line; it carries forward into the next line. There is no comma or period or other punctuation to make one pause at the end of the line. The reader just continues reading into the next line seamlessly to complete the thought the writer is expressing. An example is this line:

“Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy”

The reader doesn’t stop momentarily at the end of the first line, but rather continues on smoothly into the next line and this second line completes the phrase.

4. Imagery

This language feature conjures up mental images when read. In this poem, the area that the rose inhabits is likened to a:

 “…bed

Of crimson joy”

The reader can immediately picture a bright, blossoming, vibrant red rose bed in a garden somewhere.