Prompt:
Lily reads this poem in her mother’s book:
Lily reads this poem in her mother’s book:
The Sick Rose
By: William Blake
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Response Requirement:
- Why would Deborah have underlined portions of this poem?
- What does this poem symbolize and how are Deborah and Lily represented in it?
Click on "name/URL" as your user name. Do not enter a URL. Write down your assigned blog ID and #. At the end of your post, also write your assigned blog name, which is your class name and your specific number. Example: #yolo26 You need to see the yellow bar that says "Comment awaiting moderation." If you do not see this message, post it again. A "red X" or red line means it did not work.
i think Deborah would have underlined parts of this poem to symbolize her love for Lily. i think Deborah pictured herself as the bed of crimson joy while Lily is the bird, under the shadow of hate and abuse (T-ray). i think that Deborah knew that this book would get to Lily somehow and was just a symbol of Debora's love for her. i feel like if she did believe what T-ray said ("your mother never loved you) this would truly be a symbol that Deborah never meant to leave Lily she loved her like she never loved anything else.
ReplyDeleteThis poem symbolizes a bird being saved by a bed of joy. the bed could resemble a lot of people in the book. for example it could resemble the Boatwright sisters or Deborah.This poem is a symbolization of Deborah and her love for Lily. she wanted to show that she loved Lily with all her heart and hated leaving her with T-ray. She knew that Lily would run away eventually so she kept the poem book and underlined those things to show that she wasn't alone even if her mother was gone she wanted Lily to know that she would always be with her somehow
ReplyDeleteLily imagines her mother sitting in the very spot she sat, eyes raking through the words of the book, gears turning in her head, trying to make sense of it all. Deborah underlined this particular poem because she could relate to it. “My mother was William Blake’s rose. I wanted nothing so much as to tell her how sorry I was for being one of the invisible worms that flew in the night.” Lily believes that she symbolized one of the worms that made the rose, or her mother, ill. But is that what Deborah was really thinking when she marked up the page?
The worm simply infects and kills the rose. Lily is the worm while Deborah is the rose. The rose can represent love, possibly, and the worm could stand for death, infection, and loss. If the worm causes the rose to fall ill, and the rose symbolizes love (in this case, T. Ray and Deborah’s marriage), this means that this obstacle is hurting their love. “Why? If the love had worn off, why did she marry him?” Lily had questioned August. “Honey, Deborah was pregnant, that’s why.” T. Ray and Deborah’s relationship was already spiraling downwards, and the addition of a child didn’t help. It wasn’t that Lily was unloved— It was just that she caused unintentional damage.
When Lily first received the book, it was like a cursed pot of gold. The green, leather bound pages beckoned her, taunting her with the fact that her mother’s hand had touched the same worn out binding. Originally, she hated the book for that, angry at her mother for leaving her. But, curiosity won through. Upon further investigation of the novel, Lily found that her mother had underlined “The Sick Rose” by William Blake. Deborah would’ve underlined this poem because is relates very strongly to her life. The poem is about a sick rose, that is plagued by worm. Deborah was depressed, sick like the rose. In the book, page 251, August says, “”-she was depressed, kind of falling apart.’” This shows that Deborah would’ve underlined the poem because she could relate her depression to the sickness of the rose.
ReplyDeleteAs Lily read through the poem, she imagined what her family would’ve been like, had she not killed her mother. A tall, grim faced man and a lanky, dark haired girl. Of course, there is her mother, lighting up the room, dark hair curling like flowers around her face. This is what came into Lily’s mind. Both Lily and Deborah are represented in “The Sick Rose”. The poem and the rose represent Deborah and her sickness. In the poem, it says, “O Rose, thou art sick!” While living with T Ray and baby Lily, Deborah developed depression. She became sick like the rose. And though it seems like Lily was a good thing for Deborah, the worm represents Lily. In the poem, the worm finds the rose, and makes it sick. While it may not seem this way, Lily was one of the reasons Deborah became sick, as was T Ray. In the text, page 250, August says, “‘Mostly she wrote about you, how you were sitting up, taking your first steps, playing patty-cake. But then her letters can less and less often, and when they did come, I could tell she was unhappy.’” This shows that for one reason, or another, life with Lily and T Ray made Deborah unhappy, and sick. This is why the worm represents Lily.
#oneinamillion6
#oneinamillion
The physical beauty of a rose does not guarantee immunity from it's dangerous, sometimes lethal thorns that silently rest under it, like a soldier waiting to attack. Deborah underlined portions of "The Sick Rose" because it is a metaphor of her situation. Each "character" in this poem represents important people in Deborah's life. Deborah is the rose because her relationship with T. Ray was making her sick. His mental and physical abuse was "the howling storm" that drove Deborah to a breakdown, and his love "Does thy life destroy." Lily questions "'Okay, she was having a nervous breakdown, but how could she leave me like that?'" (253) August explains that once Deborah was feeling better, she went back to Sylvan to get Lily, but T. Ray discovered Deborah packing and the "crimson joy" became a pool of Deborah's crimson blood.
ReplyDeleteLily reads the poem and mistakenly believes that she was "one of the invisible worms that flew in the night" (275) to destroy the rose. Although Deborah's deep love for Lily does result in Deborah's life being destroyed, Deborah's death was not Lily's fault. The "rose's" sickness started long before Lily. August is not fully aware of what made Deborah so depressed but August imagines, "'part of it was her being out on the farm, isolated from many things, married to a man she really didn't want to be married to'" (253). Lily was Deborah's joy and a picture August shows Lily proves that that. Lily realizes, "She had rubbed her nose against mine and poured her light on my face" (275). The light of Deborah's love shone bright on Lily and banished the darkness of night.
Deborah underlined portions of this poem because it relates to her life. Those certain words were defining her life that she was having. On page 274 it says, “That’s where I came to eight lines by William Blake that she’d underlined, some words twice.” Deborah is the sick rose that because of T. Ray. The sick rose infers that love is sick as well sometimes. In the poem it says, “And his dark secret love, Does thy life destroy.” This is maybe why she ran off and away from T. Ray. The love that T. Ray gave her was too much. “O Rose, thou art sick!” Deborah is the rose that is sick. T. ray was too much and loved to much that it destroyed her life. The invisible worm that came unexpectedly is Lily. “The invisible worm that flies in the night” is Lily because Deborah didn’t expect to have her. This relates to a friend of mine. She was sick and did not know what was wrong, so she went to the doctor. The invisible worm that came unexpectedly was celiac disease. Her deep love for chips and bread had to be destroyed because of it.
ReplyDeleteLily is represented as the invisible worm. In the book Lily got mad at August when she told her that he mother, Deborah didn’t want her at first. Lily was unexpected at first. On page 275 it says, “I wanted nothing so much as to tell her how sorry I was for being one of the invisible worms that flew in the night. “ In the book Lily felt bad because when Deborah found out she was going to have Lily she married T. Ray. Lily caused Deborah to do this all. In the poem it says, “The invisible worm, That flies in the night,” Lily is the unexpected invisible worm that came very quickly. This relates to my aunt who was in a similar position to Deborah. She became pregnant unexpectedly and ended up marrying the child’s father.
Week 5 Option D
ReplyDeleteDeborah could have underlined portions of this poem because maybe they could relate to what was happening in her life. Maybe so parts could have reminded her of her past when she was little. These words could have been important to her because they say what has happened to her. The words could also be how she felt at that time like if she was depressed or angry. “I wanted nothing so much as to tell her how sorry I was for being the invisible worms that flew in the night.” Lily thought that her mother underlined these words because of her. Lily thought she was the “invisible worm” that always annoyed her mother. Lily thought that she was the reason why her mother was always upset.
The poem symbolizes Deborah and Lily’s life. I think Deborah is the sick rose, because she was always depressed and never really tried to love lily. I think Lily is the invisible worm that finds the dark secret love, because she learns to love people. Also she finds out everything about her mother and that is the secret love. T.Ray is the howling storm that destroys life. He ruined Lily’s life by being a terrible father. He was always mean and cruel to Lily and that is probably why they didn’t have a good relationship. He also ruined Deborah’s life to, by being a terrible husband and father to Lily.
7eleven14
Deborah underlined this poem because it tells a little about her own life. When the poem says “And his dark secret love, does thy life destroy.” This makes me think of how T. Rays love for Deborah destroyed all of their lives. “Said he treated her like a princess.” He was a good man to Deborah, and made her feel special. Their marriage leads to Lily, who was “unwanted” by Deborah because she wanted to leave T. Ray because he was changing and wasn't the same guy that decorated in the war, but with a baby on the way, it would be bad timing. So Deborah was, in a way, forced to stay in her unwanted marriage, with an unwanted baby. This affects Lily’s purpose in life, and caused her to be depressed about killing her own mother and being unwanted. T. Ray’s dark secret love for Deborah destroyed basically all of their lives like a big domino effect. I think that the Owen family is very weak. No one but Lily really truly wants Deborah back, T. Ray to be loving, and for them to be a perfect happy family. It must be extremely sad and hard to be happy but Lily is so strong; she keeps herself motivated and gives herself a purpose in life.
ReplyDeleteLily and Deborah are represented in this poem and they symbolize an important part in this selected poem by Deborah. When the poem states “The invisible worm, that flies in the night, in the howling storm,” I see Lily as the invisible worm to Deborah, and T. Ray as the howling storm. The way that T. Ray described Deborah’s feelings towards Lily in the begging of the book, it seems that Lily was more invisible to Deborah. She was leaving Lily with T. Ray as if she didn't care if Lily, this invisible worm, got caught up in T. Ray’s howling storm. “You think that goddamn woman gave a shit about you?” T. Ray told Lily “The woman could have cared less about you.” This idea of someone being invisible reminds me of the movie cheaper by the dozen, because there was one child out of the dozen that was more invisible to the family. His name was Mark, and throughout the movie the father would forget his name like he wasn't important to the family. But if Mark wasn't a part of the family they wouldn't equal a dozen, and he played a big role in the family’s title. In The Secret Life of Bees it seemed like Lily didn't really matter to Deborah, and that Deborah felt that Lily wasn't important, like Marks father and Mark.
Deborah would underline some parts of this poem to show how she maybe feeling or a way to show her sorry for Lily. Parts like an invisible worm may symbolize her feeling in the relationship with T-Ray and that's why she left. Also Deborah maybe the flies in the dark looking for somewhere to go when there's a storm.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways Lily could be the flies and Deborah is the bed or the place where the flies are looking for a home. All lily ever wanted was to have her mother but she ended up never getting to her. and that's how the flies feel because its raining and they cant fly when its raining because it makes their wings to heavy. Lily's wings could have been heavy as well because she always had to watch her step so T-Ray wouldn't find her. Another reason could be that she had to stick with Rosaleen and that also impacted her because they couldn't be everything they would have because of her skin color.
Deborah would have underlined portions of the poem because they may have related to her life, or they may have seemed significant to her. These poems could have reminded her of Lily and T. Ray, who were back at home while she was in the Boatwright residence. According to the text, “I [Lily] came to eight lines by William Blake that she’d underlined, some words twice.” The underlining of the same words more than once signifies their possible importance to Deborah. This is similar to Steven Spielberg’s film “Tintin”, in which a man points out different words to the main character. This was a hidden message. It is very unlikely for Deborah to do so, because there would be no purpose in her doing so. She had no secrets to hide or share.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the poem’s author did not intend to do so, both Deborah and Lily are symbolized in it. They both have different objects that represent them. Lily states that “my mother was William Blake’s rose… [and] I was… one of the invisible worms that flew in the night.” This illustrates that Lily is able to understand this symbolism in the piece. Sue Monk Kidd includes this statement so that the readers can perceive what Lily perceives. The poem is her doorway for restoring her faith and love for her mother. Cryptographic messages have actually been hidden in poems in the past by both clever poets and keen spies. There is hidden meaning in this specific poem, but it is not the work of the writer.
Poems mean a lot to people and sometimes you just want to take notes or underline portions of it because those lines are probably very meaningful to your life. This is the exact way Deborah felt about the poem The Sick Rose by William Blake. Deborah underlined some lines in this poem because the poem talks about the nature of love and sometimes you may think people love you but they really don’t and they just make you feel invisible. The line that best describes her depression of love would be the line that says, “And his dark secret love.” The reason this line is so important is because it shows that if she underlined this line, it shows her great depression of how people felt about her during her life. When she fell into this dark downpour of a depression, she uses these poems to help her find how she truly felt and what her life actually was. Lines like these are underlined by many people today because people all across the world feel they don’t have anything to live for and that no cares for them so they go into depression thinking what to do, but just like Deborah, there is nothing anyone can do but speak out and tell people how you really feel and that’s how she ended up with the Boatwright family because she knew they were caring of her spirit.
ReplyDeleteDeborah and Lily both ran away for the same reason of no love and no care. The poem called The Sick Rose by William Blake can symbolize T-Ray because it talks about the nature and love and how it can destroy life which means to harm other people and that is exactly how T-Ray treated Lily and Deborah, with no respect. A good example of T-Ray treats people would be on page 24 when he hollers to Lily, “Get over here and kneel down.” This quote shows how he acts like the king of a ginormous empire as well as how he treated people. He treated his own daughter like she was nothing, he made her kneel on dried grits until her knees bled but for what, nothing. Lily left because she knew it was only going to get worse, but Deborah left him because she had a feeling he was a mean guy because she forced her to do things and she also thinks he never cared for her, so the only way she could find comfort in her life was by running. To be specific, when the poem says “In the howling storm,” the howling storm represents T-Ray because when the two ladies were in the howling storm they felt that it was not a bright and happy place, but a miserable way to live a life. T-Ray is just like a king in the early ages because they feel they control everyone but really they don’t and this poem suits both of them because they don’t love, they control which represents the dark negativity of the poem.
Deborah underlined 8 lines in the poem “The Sick Rose” by William Blake because they relate to her own life. In this poem, William Blake writes:
ReplyDelete“Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy”
This quote relates to Deborah’s life because she is forced to live with T-Ray as a result of an unplanned pregnancy. He takes her innocence which can be interpreted by thy bed of crimson joy. As an effect of this, Deborah has a mental breakdown and leaves for Tiburon to stay with the Boatwrights. Lily is represented in this poem because T-Ray tries to destroy her life. In the last two lines of the poem, William Blake writes:
“And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.”
These lines can relate to Lily because T-Ray is cruel to her and makes her believe that she killed her mother. As a result, she runs away from T-Ray to the Boatwright House, just like Deborah, in find peace with herself.
4Musketeers4
4muskteers15:
ReplyDeleteDeborah is the rose in The Sick Rose. Deborah underlined words in this poem book because she was the rose, and this explained her. One quote for The Secret Life of Bees that supports me is found on page 275, it states, “My mother was William Blake’s rose.” This shows that the reason that Deborah underlined words in this poem is because she is the rose. Another quote that supports me is found on page 251, it states, “All I know, Lily, is that she was depressed, kind of falling apart.” This also shows that she was in more pieces than a crashed car. This means that she was the sick rose, sick of T.Ray. This reminds me of Harry Potter because he was also sick of his “parents” so he ran away, much like Deborah.
This poem symbolizes Lily and her mom (Deborah) very much so. Deborah is the rose, sick of T.Ray and Lily is the worm, the crimson joy. One quote that supports me is found on page 251, its states, “All I know, Lily, is that she was depressed, kind of falling apart.” This shows that Deborah is the rose, depressed and falling apart because she was sick of T.Ray. Another quote that supports me is found on page 249, it states, “Later on she changed her mind and said yes… (Because) she was pregnant with you.” This shows that the only thing keeping Deborah sane was the crimson joy, or Lily. This reminds me of the move Matilda because in Matilda, it is about an abused girl that decides to run away to another family, much like Deborah.
No one understands what you are going through. Sadness finds you every minute, even you don’t completely have the knowledge to the meaning behind your feelings. Shouldn’t a mother love her daughter and never leave her behind… Deborah underlined portions of The Sick Rose because it explained what she was feeling. She suffered from depression that caused her to become melancholy all the time. Leaving her daughter to live with T Ray, Deborah soon realized “thou art sick!” In The Sick Rose, Deborah highlighted “The invisible worm that flies in the night.” Deborah was the invisible worm who was hiding her feeling from the outside, the night. Portions of this poem would have interested her and validated some of the feelings she was not expressing to August or T Ray. While in health class, we were learning about depression. I watched a video on a new mother who was depressed and was not sure why. This reminded me of Deborah when she hastily left her daughter and husband without reasoning.
ReplyDeleteThe bond that daughters and mothers share should be forever. They always should be there for each other… The Sick Rose symbolizes Deborah’s isolation and feelings. The relationship between Lily and Deborah is represented through quotes. In the poem, “And his dark secret love does thy life destroy.” This piece shows Deborah’s depression, the dark secret, destroying her life. She was a happy mother with a husband and a great life. This was taking everything away from her and she left her great life. Lily is the ‘crimson joy’ in this poem that her mother’s new life destroyed. My favorite book as a kid, Love Aubrey was about a girl who loses her family when she is young. It is hard growing up and she always finds herself facing new challenges because of her experiences. Aubrey is like Lily to me because of the ways she has handled her past and dealt with the absence of her mother and their relationship.
Here is the second blog - Matt
ReplyDeleteMatthew Baker
4 / 11 / 14
Language Arts / Period 4
Ms. Drosdick
In the poem “The Sick Rose,” many points of the poem stuck out to me, most of them reminded me of Deborah. Deborah would have highlighted portions of the poem like “The Invisible worm, that flies in the night.” And “does thy life destroy.” These portions relate to the struggle that Lily endures with her losing her mother. It is almost as if her mother wants her to realize that she is always with her. This also represents how Lily and Deborah are represented. Their relationship is really close, but Lily does not realize it. Lily is trying to search for her mother when she does not realize that her mother will always be with her, even if she can’t see her.
Sorry about that I forgot the Name. - Matt
ReplyDeleteMatthew Baker
4 / 11 / 14
Language Arts / Period 4
Ms. Drosdick
In the poem “The Sick Rose,” many points of the poem stuck out to me, most of them reminded me of Deborah. Deborah would have highlighted portions of the poem like “The Invisible worm, that flies in the night.” And “does thy life destroy.” These portions relate to the struggle that Lily endures with her losing her mother. It is almost as if her mother wants her to realize that she is always with her. This also represents how Lily and Deborah are represented. Their relationship is really close, but Lily does not realize it. Lily is trying to search for her mother when she does not realize that her mother will always be with her, even if she can’t see her.