Deals in a comprehensive, but succinct way with poets who wrote of sex and love. It covers Greek and Roman poets, the Troubadours of Provence and also Chaucer and Shakespeare, who wrote briefly about the tyranny of sexual desire. Also, in England, Shelley and Byron, who wrote of incest. The book cites a number of Irish Writers from the modern period. These include Eavan Boland, John Montagu and Desmond Egan. The book is a contribution to the history of ideas.