The Multiple Meanings of The Sick Rose and The Eagle

The Multiple Meanings of The Sick Rose and The Eagle

After studying the two poems, The Sick Rose and The Eagle in class and

the discussion among the group, it seems to me that the poems haven’t

got only one single meaning. I also noticed that poems could always be

interpreted in different ways with different meanings based on your

point of view and your personal knowledge and experience. Poems are

also open to interpretations.

The Sick Rose is a very decent example of which the poems can be

interpreted in different ways. The word “rose” first came into sight

in the title, which indicates this word play a chief part in the

interpretation of the poem. “Rose” can be a person, as this is a very

widespread name for girls in the 20th century. If this is applied to

the poem, then it may be about a woman being sick and dying because of

sexually transmitted diseases. This has a high possibility as the

medical technology then was not as developed as nowadays and the woman

might be dying by the time she found out that she was seriously ill.

The ‘invisible worm’ could be sperm, as you can’t possibly see sperm.

For the two lines of the poem, ‘And his dark secret love, does thy

life destroy’ gave me the clue that the sperm was infectious, which

killed that beloved woman.

The poem, as mentioned earlier, hasn’t got only one meaning. “Rose”

can also be translated into a kind of flower, with large, scarlet

layers of petals, which hide the stigma of the flower. In this case,

the superficial meaning of the poem becomes very understandable. It

is about a flower dying as the worm is eating the flower, as common as

any other wild plants. ‘Thy bed of crimson joy’ indicated the center

part of the flower, and there is wh...

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...lly, the ‘eagle’ might be an evil ruler, as

described in the first two lines in the poem. He was so proud before

his sudden collapse, as stated in the last two lines. The poet had a

habit of writing about big political events. In this case the poet

might be talking about the French Revolution, as it was one of the

biggest shame in French history. If one is not clear about the

background of the event, interpretations may vary. Therefore knowledge

is also a critical point when it comes to interpreting a poem.

As a conclusion, there are some similar points about these two poems.

Both of them are not directly explained due to different reasons and

they are both expressed through personification. The poets used

convincing and emotive words to convey ideas. In general,

interpretations vary according to different people; it depends on the

way you look at it.