by A. S. Maulucci

Created on: April 02, 2009   Last Updated: April 03, 2009

Perhaps more so than with other forms of verse, erotic poetry is rooted in the senses. It rejoices in the beauty of the sexual act, yes, but it also celebrates the heightening of the connection of physical contact in a way that penetrates to the deepest source of our sensuality. The primary subject for erotic poetry is any activity that is a prelude to sexual intercourse, but a less obvious one is the surprise encounter with an experience that arouses our sexual desire, even without a partner, in the daily course of our lives, as, for example, a walk in the spring rain or the sight of an unfolding flower.

The challenge for the aspiring author of erotic poetry is to create a work that titillates while keeping everything implied and well within the realm of the imagination. Anything that's too explicit will spoil the intended effect, which is to stimulate the libido and arouse sexual desire. The simple objective is to be salacious without being pornographic, audacious without being obscene.

Classic authors such as the Greek Sappho and the Romans Catullus and Ovid have given us works of an erotic nature that set the tone and style for the ensuing centuries. Classic erotic poetry is elegant, not uncouth, sensitive, not coarse. It is absolutely imperative that erotic verses be free of any hint of vulgarity and lewdness. There's a fine line to be drawn here, and in this case especially, as in all others, it's best to illustrate with examples.

An unexpected source for some of the world's best erotic poetry comes from the Bible, in the Song of Solomon. During their enforced separation, the two lovers sing the praises of each other's sex appeal as they dream of and long for the culmination of their desires. The following passage appears in the second to last chapter:

How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy breath like apples;

And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will

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