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.

Brian Arkins is Professor Emeritus of classics at the University of Galway, where he taught for 37 years. He is the author of fourteen books of criticism that include: three on Latin poetry, two on Yeats and one on Joyce. He is also the author of more than 150 journal articles published in France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Denmark, England, Ireland and the United States. Dr Arkins has been Honorary President of Classical Association of Ireland, and Director of the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies of Athens.