The Poetry of Sex

It's the way that you say I don't usually do this.' It's hard to imagine a more fruitful subject for poets than sex, in all its glorious manifestations: from desire and hope, through disappointment and confusion, to conclusion and consequence. And little has changed over the centuries, as Sophie Hannah's anthology vividly demonstrates, from Ovid describing a summer afternoon of love-making to Rosemary Tonks telling the Story of a Hotel Room. Moods and attitudes may vary but the drive persists as does the desire to write about it. Sophie Hannah's selection ranges from ancient Rome to modern New York, from gay to straight, from marital bliss to furtive adultery, but her principle has been to go low on the sugar and high on the excitement.