Sex Without Love Analysis

The Constant Contemplation of Sharon Olds’ “Sex without Love” This poem dramatizes the conflict between the speakers opinions on sex, opposed to others. In this poem, Olds presents a speaker who is contemplating the mentalities and thought processes of people who are able to have sex without love, compared to themselves. Although no first person dialogue is presented in the poem, contrasting statements and implications of phrases used highlight how the speaker feels about the subject. The theme of the poem is largely one of personal contemplation and of human emotion. It focuses on understanding the concept of being alone, and somewhat hoping to be able to understand it from the speaker’s perspective as well. The poem is presented in a series

The color red can represent sin, as stated in another analysis of the poem, “The wine and steak and newborn bloody child indicates perhaps this sexual act is sin; red often symbolizing sins in religion.” (Jessica Myers, Analysis of Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds, 2014) but what I find is that it has a double meaning which signifies lust as well. In the poem, red is a double edged sword to promote both the idea of lust and self enjoyment during sex, as well as sinful nature deeply rooted in different religions. It’s not difficult to imagine the speaker thinking often about such a situation in their

. .)it's the people who serve the priest or the rabbi and not God.” (Jessica Myers, Analysis of Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds, 2014) As far as the structuring of the poem goes, I believe the lines “(. . .) will not / accept a false Messiah, love the / priest instead of the God” means to say that those who have sex will not accept either the false messiah or the priest before god. This very well fits the idea of contrasting ideals shown by the speaker throughout the poem, as well as the second pair of concepts with double meanings shown in the poem. The final concept in which this poem portrays is one of a great runner. The speaker describes sex without love as a runner alone within the elements. The runner sees everything around them simply as factors, but the statement revolves around a positive note. The end of the poem reflects back on the ever contemplating manner of the speaker and the mentality of the people being described. They are alone together in the world, sharing no emotional connection to each other, yet it is exactly as they want it to be. I view this poem as symbolism for a cycle of thought. Sex without love is viewed in a very positive and negative light throughout, leaving its audience to create their own conclusion to best suit their narratives in life. While it isn’t directly mentioning any people by name, it allows the audience to envision the scenes described to them