The Imperfect Enjoy Theme

The Analysis of The Imperfect Enjoyment

In John Wilmot’s, The Imperfect Enjoyment, the second Earl of Rochester, was born in 1647 to a noble family in England. He was said to be “one of the most famous lyric poets of Charles II’s court” (Orton). His noble stature later declined in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, due to, the obscene nature of his work. Rochester’s poem ranges from tender love verses to savage pornographic obscenities. Due to the harshness of this poem, it pushes the reader to another level and pushes the limits of poetry, in regards to mode and genre. In this wistfully strange poem, The Imperfect Enjoyment, the tone takes a rapid shift. At the beginning, the poet uses a tenderly erotic tone, which soon becomes intensely anti-erotic. From this tone, we experience excessive bragging to a sense of self dislike expressed through vulgarity. From the first impression of the poem the reader might think they are reading a sweet love story, but with further reading they soon will discover the complete opposite.

“The Imperfect Enjoyment, is an English poem about premature ejaculation, originating from the seventeenth century. Classical in origin, the poetry of sexual disappointment traveled to England by way of France” (Orton). Rochester pitifully blames the excessive beauty and modesty of his mistress for his premature climax and inability to perform. The Imperfect Enjoyment, has small reveals that will leave the reader puzzled, shocked, laughing, or shaking their head in disapproval. Using tone, meter and punctuation, the speaker conveys a picture of the many grotesque women of his past and how they measure up to his current lover. In line fifty, the author places “what” at the beginning of an iambi...

... middle of paper ...

... He thinks of himself as an aggressive, hyper masculine sexual being; he’s a lot of man. The speaker’s inability to perform sexually with an “oyster-cinder-beggar-common whore”, makes the failure even more embarrassing.

The Earl of Rochester skillfully dishonors the speaker’s previous sexual relations while praising his lover. He conveniently criticizes his previous partners to depict that they are not in completion to his current lover. This segregation conveys to the reader, the past is irrelevant, it holds no value. Whereas the present, is the only thing that matters. The speaker displays outrage through his inability to perform sexually because he so badly wants to please his lover. This annoyance proposes that the speaker has an emotional attachment, which he has never experienced before. By neglecting his past, he shows his true feeling for his current lover.