Innocent young Sylvia is curious about pleasurable things such as lust and sex. She is just reaching fifteen! Even in 1600’s teens minds were where they shouldn’t be in comparison to today. She notices the men who are eager for her and wonder about the context of the things they talk about like “…sighing, and kissing so close; By their praying and whining, and clasping and twining, and panting and wishing, and sighing and kissing, and sighing and kissing so close.” These words which explain their sensual actions are an odd mixture. The mention of praying perplexes the reader and causes them to think of morals in relation to their sexual actions.
Sylvia continues to be curious and is distressed while she is in a Christian country yet there is no one to help her as a lost virgin. As she contemplates the lustful concept cupid strikes her with his arrow and she becomes enticed by his spell. In the end Sylvia learns what it means to be “…sighing, and kissing so close; By their praying and whining, and clasping and twining, and panting and wishing, and sighing and kissing, and sighing and kissing so close.” To say the least she is no longer a virgin.
This poem bribes me to think about how strongly the church is negatively tied into the image of lust and premarital sex mostly because in a “country of Christians” it is frowned upon to think much less do anything that is considered to be so immoral. Also, it seems to have great comparison to adolescents in today’s mainstream society, their curiosity with sex and their pursuit to conquer. The poem effectively conveys a continuous trend in the concerns and actions of teens from the 17th to the 21st century.
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