The Act of Sex Is It Worth the Consequences in William...

There is a women gasping for her life while trying to escape from a rose in both of the illustrations that are set for one, individual poem. Most roses represent positively-themed symbolism depending on their colour. For example, the universal symbol for a red rose is love. In relation, the two colours used in each of the pictures are deep red/crimson and white, which are not typical rose colour choices. The deep red rose is used in the original illustration of the poem and it symbolizes unconscious beauty. William Blake may uses this colour because the woman that is trying to escape from the rose, may only be internally beautiful. The woman may be very young, grotesque or unsightly. The deep red rose represents the woman because it is†¦show more content†¦You cannot see a sickness because most are airborne or caught on contact, thus making it invisible. The worm is said to be flying through the night, which references sexual activities because sex commonly happens during t he night. Generally, worms are innocent creatures because they cause no harm to humans. All they do is live in the soil to find nutrients and food. The only time you would ever see an earthworm, without digging, is during a rainstorm when they surface themselves to the ground. They try to maintain their health and not die by being drowned by rain water. Even though they are visible, they are still not harmful in anyway. It is interesting that Blake uses such an innocent creature to describe something so destructive like a sexually transmitted infection. He wants to compare two innocent things, the woman and the worm, and show how by engaging in one act, can destroy ones life. There are worms present in both illustrations provided for the poem. It is very unusual that he illustrates the worms crawling on a stem because worms do not crawl on the top of plants. In the first illustration, the worm is shaded black. It is perceived as crawling or moving along the stem of a leaf, by the dr awn curve in its body. The colour black symbolizes death, which is directed towards the womans innocence. Once the worm catches the woman, her innocence is dead. In the second image, there are