Thursday, March 24, 2011
Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds
If you just skim "Sex Without Love" without reading it, it just looks like a bunch of phrases and similes that don't correlate to the title. Upon further examination, it becomes apparent that this poem is actually an explicit and harsh judgement of those who choose to engage in casual sex. "How do they do it, the ones who make love/without love? (lines 1-2)" Olds compares two casual lovers as being as "beautiful as dancers (line 2)," like children being given up for adoption (lines 7-8), like worshipers (lines 13-16) and "like great runners (line 18)." She describes sex as something pure, almost like a religious experience, something shared, something beautiful. She doesn't know how one can engage in something that she finds so beautiful without loving one another but commends them for the honesty in their desire to have sex just to have sex. Her use of irony makes it sound like she pities those who have sex without love.
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Yes, but see my comments on blogs from previous classes, as noted on my post, and comments in blogs from current classes on Derrick's, Florina's and Steven's blogs. It's tempting to see this poem as overly judgemental, though, as you imply in your observation of the poem's irony, the speaker's attitude and the tone is more complex and ambiguous, than that...
ReplyDeleteFor the most part I totally agree with you. From the way she starts off I got the feeling that she was appalled by the mere idea of having sex without love. The similes she uses makes me also feel like she views sex as something deeper, beautiful, sacred even. However I feel she incorporates God on various occasions throughout to bring in the idea of morals.
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