Last Night Sharon Olds Analysis

Sex has been reduced to a common action with no social bindings and it is not a gesture of showing love for someone else as people think of it today. When will today’s society be consumed with only the physical aspect of sex? With all of the premarital sex and the age of becoming sexually active decreasing every generation, it leaves a question to be answered; where did the value of love and responsibility of partnership go? Monogamy, in “Brave New World“, is unheard of and taboo to everyone except those who see how powerful love is. The connection that unites people is reduced to a competition to see how many times people have it rather than which the person is. In the book, John knows the importance of love and even resists the temptation to have sex with Lenina. John is among a few people who have not been reduced to mating animals but rather humans that still feel a need for love and companionship.

The first chapter opened my eyes to diverse topics about human sexuality in general. My generation has sex almost emotionlessly because of the hookup scene that surrounds us in society. But we have sex until one of the partners has an orgasm. “Our concept of sex has become so male-defined that the single orgasm has become the gold standard for women’s sexual response, and orgasm is often considered “optional” despite many women’s ability have multiple orgasms (Chalker 23).” This concept of sex seems to be

Helena Mesa writes poetry in a reflective manner that recreates moments in her life and brings them back to life. Additionally, Mesa’s poems switch from concrete to abstract thought, which adds complexity and depth to her work. Two poems in her collection that do this beautifully are “The Past” and “Our Bodies Stood Like Houses.” “The Past” depicts the narrator’s lover starting with the lines “when she dipped into the forgotten and played it... you scolded her for making a mess of the house.”

Sharon Olds was born in San Francisco on November 19, 1942. At age fifteen, she was sent to a boarding school in Massachusetts. Many of her poems focus on difficult childhood and the body. As Olivia Laing, literary critic of several literary novels and publications, says, “The physical body is a document of being, physical experience is the primary mode of forming, and physical contact is the primary human relationship.” Like Whitman, Olds celebrates the body in its pleasures and pains. She is a contemporary poet who focuses on autobiographical poems mostly of sexual or violent nature and personal experience. She particularly resonates with women readers and women’s connections with family members and lovers of the past and present through physical, sexual, and emotional means. She writes frequently about her sadistic, alcoholic father and victimized mother. Her dysfunctional family plays an enormous role in her poetry, especially in “The Day They Tied Me Up.” This poem is inspired by true events and the feelings and emotions felt by the poet during a memorable aspect of her childhood.

1.  Nozick, Robert. "Love's Bond." Philosophical Perspectives on Sex & Love. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. 231-39.

Major events in a person’s life have a long lasting impact on them and help them to become the person they are today. These events help provide them with inspiration for their art. Artists and poets alike use their own lives as inspiration for their works. Sharon Olds is no exception to this statement. Sharon Olds is one of the nation’s finest contemporary poets, and in order to see why Sharon Olds’s poetry is so profound, it is necessary to understand the events that shaped Sharon Olds as a person herself. These events are all featured in the majority of her writings. Sharon Olds’s strong Calvinist upbringing, her divorce, and her alcoholic father are all mirrored in her poetry.

Poetry is much different than any other style of writing. Poets have a way of communicating their message in a much more indirect way than regular writers. One reader may interpret a poem in a way that is drastically different than another. To truly understand a poem, one must understand the author as well. Sharon Olds, an American poet, who is known for her morbid and unhappy poems, writes about various themes including political violence, family relationships, and sexuality (Gale). In Olds’ poem, “The Death of Marilyn Monroe” we see her examining sexuality not only in 20th century, but in today’s age as well. Olds uses the death of a famous sex icon to really show how women were, and are still being sexualized in society.

We live in a society that has increasingly stomped on love, depicting it as cruel, superficial and full of complications. Nowadays it is easy for people to claim that they are in love, even when their actions say otherwise, and it is just as easy to claim that they are not when they really are. Real love is difficult to find and keeping it alive is even harder, especially when one must overcome their own anxieties and uncertainties. This is the main theme present in Russell Banks’ short story “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story,” as well as in “The Fireman’s Wife,” written by Richard Bausch. These narratives, although similar in some aspects, are completely different types of love stories.

The poem, “sex without love” by Sharon Olds portrays the issues in the society today. Casual sex is on the rise and Olds is puzzled how one can have sex without loving the other partner. She states, “How do they do it, the ones who make love without sex?” (Line 1). She, however, describes sex with beautiful imagery of dancers, making it appealing but the eventual feeling of loneliness is inevitable. Olds choice of words, imagery, and symbolism throughout her texts is contrasting; sex without love is possible but is exemplified as a selfish empty act if love is absent.

Sharon Olds in "True Love" wonders about a true meaning of love in her uniquely written poem about a married couple. She hints that true love is about belonging to one another. That belonging or self-possession is reflected via ties of marriage. She further says that children, which are a product of marriage, only tighten marital bonds even more. The speaker starts her poem by describing two people having sex and looking at each other in a “complete friendship”. However, as much as the poem at first seems to have a positive meaning, the message appears to be quite opposite. In fact, “after making love, we look at each other in complete friendship" (2-3) sounds odd if used when describing the love between friends with benefits or a married couple. Friends with benefits contribute to unhealthy relationships that they are in, which is built on lust and only physical desire. Her poem, perhaps is an ironic portrayal of true love. A true love, if it even exists, is very difficult to preserve and can take a different turn especially within the marriage.

Love is the greatest human emotion one can experience. In the poem "Leaving the Motel" by W. D. Snodgrass and "Sex Without Love" by Sharon Olds each poet shares different views on the theme of love. Snodgrass' poem focuses on a couple having an affair in a motel. As they are leaving they go through a checklist to make sure they keep their secrecy. While, Olds' poem focuses more about how people have sex without being in love. Both of these poems illustrate a strong sense of love in different ways with the help of point of view, mood, and symbolism.

“Sex Without Love” is a poem written by American poet Sharon Olds, that describes Olds’ opinions and reactions on how one could have sex with someone without love being involved. She provides metaphors of how ice-skating and running are comparable to how sex without love feels. Sharon’s comparisons of sexual partners without love to ice skaters and dancers, signifies how it is solely a misconception of love and happiness, and the driving force in the pleasure of sex without love is mostly physical. “Sharon Olds writes two verses, the first ‘Beautiful as dancers, gliding over each other like ice skaters over the ice’ and the second verse, ‘wet as the children at birth who mothers are going to give them away.” The first line is used to compare

Sharon Olds’ poem “Sex Without Love” wonders at the ability for two people to have sex and not involve emotions or pretenses of love. The poem argues that it is better to have sex without love under the premise that love is a false savior for people, and everyone is all alone anyhow. In other words, the claim is that personal interactions do not serve a purpose other than being a distraction, and they will inevitably end. However, the notion that attachment and love are false hopes for people and each person is all alone does not account for the inevitability of human interactions and the underlying importance of relationships. While the poem does not give its definition of being alone, complete isolation is virtually impossible and leads

“First Poem for You,” by Kim Addonizio, illustrates a night between two lovers lying next to each other. From this sonnet, it is discovered that through symbolism, imagery, and structure, the speaker’s views on relationships are embellished.

The poem “Sex Without Love” written by Sharon Olds is a poem about how people who do not love each other still manage to have sex. She begins with the question many people ask, “How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?”, which immediately gets readers intrigued and to contemplate the question at hand. The author’s use of imagery allows the reader to feel like he/she is actually experiencing the contemplation that Olds is experiencing. Many people argue that sex without love is not morally correct and that it can often give off a negative reputation for many people. However, some people believe the opposite and think that no prior connection is required to have sex. Sex is a very interesting topic because it stirs up many different conversations and opinions. According to Sharon Olds poem, people should have meaningful sex and connections with other humans rather than empty, careless relationships. Most people today prefer having the easy, casual relationship that does not require the extra work entailed in a loving relationship. Olds is able to use imagery, religion and metaphors to express her dislike towards loveless sex.