Wooing with Words: Erotic Reading for Bedtime

Okay, I'll assume if you're reading this article, you have some interest in erotic literature. Let's face it, who among us went through our adolescent years without reading the occasional Penthouse Forum column, or the bodice-ripper novels like Sweet Savage Love, full of steamy euphemisms like "hard maleness" and "heaving bosom"? Maybe we graduated to adult fiction, or even porn. While there are some very good erotica magazines out there, much of the contemporary literature being written is geared towards a quick turn on or, I hate to say it, the make reader (gay or straight) who does not usually need a whole lot of stimulation prior to masturbation.

How you get off when you're on your own is another article, perhaps, but right now I want to talk about reading to your lover in bed. Out loud. Yes, reading to each other. This is not something many couples have done, and the few people I know who admit to having done this in a relationship often smile when they describe it, saying it is one of the most pleasurable, intimate things they have done. Some couples read to each other as a near-nightly routine, and if your partner is a good reader, this can be a great way to absorb the latest novel on the New York Times best seller list, or that old Stephen King novel from the 1970s you never got around to.

But what about reading aloud as a prelude to love? Or, perhaps, as a way to generate passion and arousal over a period of time. Remember Sheherezade and the 1001 Nights? She was the young and beautiful wife of a cruel sultan who would spend one night with his wives before having them murdered. She staved off her demise by telling him an elaborate tale that continued night after night. I'm sure the sultan wanted to hear the end of her story, but it's also true that by the time she finished, he was so enthralled by her that he no longer wanted her to die. The story ends with him asking forgiveness for his past misdeeds and reforming his cruel ways. Ah, the power of a good story!

If the thought of reading "adult fiction" aloud makes you want to laugh or die of embarrassment, this article will help you find many choices of erotic literature from some of the finest writers that have ever lived. Did Shakespeare and D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf know they were writing erotica? Probably not, but many of their works were extremely erotic, anyway. Gee whiz, you're thinking; I haven't thought about those writers since college. I had to read them for English class assignments! And now you're telling me they're sexy??? Yes! Elizabeth Bowen, Muriel Spark, Anais Nin, Henry Miller, the Marquis de Sade, W. B. Yeats, John Keats, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, all of these writers wrote beautifully sensuous works. Because many of us associate the classics of literature with formal language, we often forget how beautiful and evocative that language can be if we allow it to apply to us in the here and now, instead of just imagining what people thought of it who lived in the era when it was written. Anyone who has watched the film Shakespeare in Love knows the true erotic power of this young man's pen–his words have inspired many to dizzy heights of passion. Because Shakespeare's language was so often heard aloud, acted on stage, his words became associated with verbal declarations of love. His sonnets are often read aloud, still, because they are such perfect expressions of passion and devotion. Like this famous one:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Yes, the "thees" and "thous" may seem odd to us, but they feel right in the context of the poem, so don't be shy about reading them aloud. Here's another sonnet professing abiding love:

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famish'd for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast,
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest,
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thy self away, art present still with me;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them, and they with thee;
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart, to heart's and eyes' delight.

Hmm. Well, what if you're not necessarily into professing undying devotion, but you just want to heat things up? The authors you lived with through English Lit. Class can help out there, too.

The Romantic poets were known for their decadent lifestyles and active sex lives. Poets like Shelley and Byron were proponents of "free love" (open marriages to us) and experimentation. Their poetry, and that of Swinburne, Keats, Rosetti, and others contain very sensual language for some lusty, literary reading with your sweetheart. You may not find the kinds of poems you want in the basic anthologies, so check out your used bookstore and get entire volumes. You can also find individual poems on line, as there are many websites devoted to poetry in general, and even erotic poetry in particular! Like this one: Poetry Archive

This poem, about Adam and Eve, is actually beautifully erotic!

Walt Whitman was an American poet well-loved for his earthy, sensual poetry. Leaves of Grass is a passionate hymn to nature. Many of Whitman's poems are specifically written about the act of love, like "From Pent-up Aching Rivers." Here are a few lines:

"From the soft sliding of hands over me and thrusting of fingers through my hair and beard,
From the long sustain'd kiss upon the mouth or bosom, From the close pressure that makes me or any man drunk, fainting with excess."

Wow! Walt's the man. But maybe you prefer someone more modern. There are many poets out there whose work is very sensual, including Erica Jong (yes, she also wrote the novel Fear of Flying!). This website, An Excess of Erotica, has listings of many online resources to help you find erotic literature. With some imagination and a bit of effort you will find the perfect piece of literature to read to your lover.

Now, there are a few tips to make sure all goes smoothly.

	Make sure there is enough light to read by, but not too bright, since this can spoil the mood. A couple of bedside lamps with 60-watt pink bulbs are perfect. Candlelight may be too soft, unless you have some tapers in holders that throw some light downwards. Make sure to blow them out before you go to sleep!
	Have a glass of water or other beverage nearby–reading aloud is thirsty work and you don't want to interrupt the spell you're weaving with a cough or throat clearing.
	Don't worry about finishing the whole selection in one reading. If you both start to feel amorous before the chapter or passage is completed, note your place with a bookmark and return to it another night! This is why short selections like poems or short stories come in handy.

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