Absent from thee Flashcards
Who wrote Absent from thee?
•John Wilomt, Earl of Rochester in mid-to late 1600’s
What themes are prevalent in the poem?
•Love and loss, deception, religion vs freedom
What is the context of the poem?
•He is a restoration poet
•The restoration took place in the United Kingdom’s of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile
•The period saw a new political settlement and the new monarchy was one of liveliness and new life which accompanied a libertine ethos of sensual indulgence
•Wilmot’s “Absent from Thee” internalizes conflict, presenting a speaker torn between emotional fidelity and physical indulgence, illustrating the inherent tension within the libertine lifestyle
“Absent from thee, I languish still; Then ask me not, When I return”
•hyperbolic language
•He contends his inner turmoil of being away from his lover and his lovesickness
•In reality this is misleading as he asks not to be questioned because he’s conscious of his immoral behaviour
“From thine arms then let me fly”
•He is aware of his own failing inability to resist temptation and so suggests he should indulge in his sinful fantasies
“The torments it deserves to try”
•Sexual and religious connotations
•The speaker laments his inability to remain faithful to his lover, admitting that absence leads him to pursue “torment” in the form of fleeting physical pleasures
•Self punishment is a value system upheld by some religious churches
•In this way, the words reflects the emotional ruin his sexual impulses causes
“”when wearied with a world of woe/ To thy safe bosom I retire”
•The alliteration slows down the line to emphasize his point
•He wants to return back to her and perhaps God where “Love and peace and truth” flows
•Ultimately shows that real comfort and peace is with his lover and God not in fulfilling his sexual desires
“wandring from that Heav’n/I fall on some bade heart unblest”
•Religious imager of heaven shows that he findes a glimpse of peace with his lover
•However he wanders and “falls on some base”- another woman
•He ultimately looses faith and lets his sexual desires drive his decisions
Thesis (what does the poem reflect overall
•Wilmot intertwines love with suffering, as the speaker recognizes that his libertine pursuits, while physically gratifying, ultimately distance him from the emotional intimacy he craves
•The tone oscillates between remorse and defiance, as the speaker acknowledges the destructiveness of his actions but refuses to relinquish his hedonistic impulses even if he may loose his “everlasting rest”
•He presents love and sin as inherently inseparable, reflecting the libertine ethos of Restoration England, which celebrated sensual indulgence yet acknowledged its potential for emotional ruin
