Absent From Thee Flashcards
What is the overall ‘plot’ of the poem?
Men who leave their wives to pursue other women are exposed for returning to their wives to prevent punishment in the afterlife
What was the Restoration attitude to sexual desire?
It had little to do with marriage and was satisfied elsewhere
In literature, sex was written about more freely
Sexual promiscuity was, if not socially acceptable, not punished either
Sexual virility an important aspect f masculinity
What was the Restoration attitude to marriage?
Little respect for the sanctity of marriage in the king’s court
What was the Restoration attitude to the individual?
Life was about the pursuit of happiness (enlightenment thinking)
Industrial revolution meant people were no longer subject to the governance of the Lord of the Manor
Communities broke down as people moved to cities
French Revolution focused on equal rights for all men
Who was John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester?
Courtier of Charles II
Well known for rakish lifestyle
Abducted the woman he was later to marry
Libertine lifestyle- indulged in sensual pleasures without regard to moral principles
‘The best English satirist’- Andrew Marvell
How is Rochester’s poetry a political statement?
Sexually explicit= thumb in the eye of Puritans
How does Restoration literature include extremes?
It encompasses Paradise Lost, The Country Wife and The Pilgrim’s Progress
How is the speaker self critical?
‘Absent’- neglecting his duty as husband
‘Straying fool’
How does the speaker admit a courtly lover position?
‘I languish’- focus on his own pain
‘Ask me not, when I return?’
It ‘kill[s]’ him to know she’s mourning his absence
His is a victim of ‘torments’- other women. This ‘tears’ his heart from his wife
What does the speaker need permission from his wife for?
He is restricted by her ‘Arms’ and wants to ‘flie’ from them
His ‘Fantastick mind’ needs to ‘try’ other women
What does the wordplay of ‘mourn’ and morn suggest?
Sense of time passing and being wasted in sadness
What does the dual meaning of languish suggest?
Growing weaker/forced to remain somewhere unpleasant
The speaker is forced; no responsibility as if he has no choice in his infidelity
What does the repeated use of assonance and enjambment suggest?
Desire for freedom
What are the two ways to read ‘expire’?
Positive as he wishes to grow old with her
Negative as he sees a life with her as one of decay; the death of his independent lifestyle
What does the alliteration of ‘when wearied with a world of woe’ suggest?
Monotonous and repetitive lifestyle
