... hence the title. Blake uses the rose, which has historically signified femininity, to provide the reader with a sense of the homosexual's frail, feminine nature. The "invisible worm that flies by night", is a bold reference to the turbulent penis of the sick rose, whose debauched behaviors are performed as surreptitiously as possible amidst passionate caterwauling ... with any question as to the private nature of homosexual behavior in the time and place during which it was written. It may have been aberrant for the author to have been any more forward in symbolizing such matters. The pu...

• Word Count: 556
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate