An Analysis Of Sex Without Love By Sharon Olds

Love can sometimes be seen as a counterintuitive and unconventional sense of life. The irony in it all is love could either be as warm as the Sunday morning sun or as cold as a New England winter when touched by the heart or the skin. As we grow up, if we believe we are cherished by the most respectful and admirable person, we give up the most vulnerable parts of ourselves: the body. However, throughout modern society, people tend to use sexual intercourse as a form of personal pleasure and gain without the obligations of emotions. Henceforth, stated in Sharon Olds’ “Sex Without Love”, premarital sex may be against God’s intentions to be pure but at the same time people love the priest more the teachings and are willing to go against the Lord

Stated in the first metaphor of the poem, “How do they do it, the ones who make love without love? Beautiful as dancers, gliding over each other like ice skaters” (lines 1-3) captures an image of two lovers gliding over one another like an abstract artistic painting in a simile. The cold atmosphere indicates the disdain detachment between the lovers during the experience. In modern society, many believe in the “no strings attached” method as part of a liberation for one’s self. Yet, Olds creates a paradox in the imagery by describing the people “red as steak, wine, wet as the children at birth whose mothers are going to five them away” (lines 6-8). In literal concept, the images display a child birth after an eventful sexual experience. When a child enters the world, it comes responsibility many young adults don’t care to handle, thus creating a narcissistic for the younger generation. Nevertheless, the syntax, form, and tone are broken down as Olds further answers her frustrations to society. A tonal shift reverted any ambiguities about these faceless sexual beings by describing them as “the ones who will not accept a false Messiah, love the priest instead of the God” (lines 15-16). Without the great