References
The poem begins with the speaker stating that he is separated from the one he loves, the intended listener of the poem. While they are apart, he feels miserable. The speaker becomes unsure what to do with himself, due to he sense of loneliness. However, later it’s revealed that it’s actually the speaker’s own fault they are separate.
He tells the listener not to ask him when he’s going to come back as he doesn’t know. The speaker is unable to resist the sexual urges plaguing his every waking moment. The poem concludes with the speaker admitting that he’s likely never going to change.
- Wilmot is well-known today for his chaotic lifestyle, drunkenness, fights, and exploits with women. The speaker of a lot of his poems are often thought to be Wilmot himself, struggling with his own choices and trying to come to terms with his path.
- During the time ‘Absent from thee’ came about in the mid to late 1600s after Charles II became king. When in 1660, after 19 years of exile, Charles II took the throne the ‘pendulum of England’s morality was said to have swung from repression to licence almost overnight.’
- During this time theatres reopened and Puritanism lost its momentum. Women were allowed to perform on the stage as professional actresses for the first time. It was in this atmosphere of liberation that this poem was written.
- A reference to Wilmot not wanting to be questioned on his behaviour: ‘Then ask me not, when I return?’
- A double meaning, either meaning morning or mourning the loss of his relationship: ‘all night to mourn’
- A reference to missing his former girlfriend: ‘That tears my fixed heart from my love’
- A reference to either their love expiring as well as aging and running out of time. Or becoming infertile overtime: ‘May I contented there expire’
- A sense of regret due to his infidelity, however it is unknown if the regret was ever sincere: ‘Faithless to thee, false, unforgiven’
- A reference to his habits plaguing him and being permanent, almost foreshadowing his death: ‘And lose my everlasting rest’
Summary
The poem begins with the speaker stating that he is separated from the one he loves, the intended listener of the poem. While they are apart, he feels miserable. The speaker becomes unsure what to do with himself, due to he sense of loneliness. However, later it’s revealed that it’s actually the speaker’s own fault they are separate.
He tells the listener not to ask him when he’s going to come back as he doesn’t know. The speaker is unable to resist the sexual urges plaguing his every waking moment. The poem concludes with the speaker admitting that he’s likely never going to change.