Select all that apply.

What qualities of the rose does Burns address in his poem?

beauty
danger from thorns
sweetness of smell
freshness
that roses are fragile

The English poet William Blake liked to play opposites off each other. He didn't have much use for the old rose symbol, so he wrote a poem about a dying rose.

The Sick Rose

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.

Roses have appeared in thousands of poems. Trying to make the symbol of the rose new every time is extremely difficult. Here, the modernist poet Gertrude Stein gives her take on the famous poetic symbol.

Red Roses

A cool red rose and a pink cut pink, a collapse and a sold hole, a
little less hot.

The meaning here is not as clear.