Historic and Literary References to the Female Orgasm
Although many aspects of the female orgasm have been a mystery for hundreds, if not thousands of years, there have been a lot of references to it throughout history and literature. Greek and Latin literature has its fair share of sexual innuendos and blatant references. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in Book III, talks about women having orgasms. Female orgasm and sex continues through the Homoeroticism and Romanticism ages. Percy Bysshe Shelley used the metaphor “no life can equal such a death” for an orgasm. He wrote the poem titled “The Boat on the Serchio”, which is still considered by many to be the “grandest portrayal of orgasm in literature”, as stated in John Lauritsen’s book “Hellenism and Homoeroticism in Shelley and his Circle.” Even William Shakespeare talks about orgasm in his works.