Sexual Performance Symbol
The speaker in the poem The Imperfect Enjoyment equates the ability to perform sexually with being a man. Because he is unable to ejaculate for a second time, he feels that he is less of a man, and also feels guilty that his lover has been "sold" the image of a real man when he is not able to perform as she had hoped.
Whore Symbol
Presumably, because it is a recurring theme in the poems about sex, Rochester himself believes that being sexually voracious as a woman is symbolic of being a whore. This is a symbol that comes up in several poem texts, and is generally leveled at women after they are able to out-last him during their sexual encounters.
Women as Whores Motif
Despite the fact that the speaker of the various poems is attracted to the women he is sleeping with, he refers to them much of the time as though they are whores. This is a recurring motif in the texts; it is usually a reference made when he is on the defensive. For example, when Phyllis scorns him because she has another lover who pleases her more, the speaker insinuates that she is sleeping with forty men, and that she can't help herself because she is a prostitute and so is powerless to behave any differently. Similarly, in An Imperfect Enjoyment, he considers his lover a whore because she is able to sexually outlast him, implying an overly-voracious appetite.
Vitriol Motif
Though he considered himself a satirist, the poet's satirical skill becomes outright vitriol in a number of the texts. He is often bitter; towards women, particularly Phyllis, who do not make him feel like the man he believes himself to be, and towards anyone with whom he has had an argument. This generally results in poems that are angrier at the end than they were at the beginning.
Phyllis Motif
The poet comes back to one person in particular in several of the poems he has written, so much so that the character of Phyllis becomes a recurring motif. He clearly loves Phyllis, and finds her attentions can make or break his mood. He also resents this, because if he does not get her attention he is miserable and he resents her control over his moods in this way.
Phyllis is definitely a woman of great importance in his life; he is hugely attracted to her and almost obsessed with her, although it is quite likely that he is only obsessed with her because she is not immediately available and he therefore wants what he feels he cannot have. She appears in poems that bemoan his sexual performance and is one of the women he considers whore-like because of her sexual behavior.
