Keats, Swimming, and Spanking (Yes there is a connection!)

I recently watched Bright Star, a film by Jane Campion about the poet John Keats and his love affair with Fanny Brawn. It’s a brilliant film and I would recommend it to anyone.

In the film Fanny is hungry to know more about poetry and keen to find out how to understand it. He tells that she does not have to, and that reading poetry is like swimming in a lake. It is not necessary to analyze the lake nor to understand what it is all about, simply to appreciate the pleasure of being in it.

I would use the same analogy with sex. If something makes you feel beautiful and wonderful and fulfilled, then there is no need to try and break down why; simply enjoy and appreciate it while it is there.

I will go just a fraction further though. Swimming in a warm tropical sea under a hot sun is sweet and languorous and a joy none of us have any problem understanding,





very much like having sweet loving sex with someone we care for.


Plunging into an icy pool is something quite different. There is the element of danger, all the senses alive as never before and the excitement of a challenge. And when you get out and towel off, you feel so invigorated and happy you can scarcely believe it.

I would venture to say that is something of how it feels to be spanked, dangerous exciting and arousing.



Yes you’re not sure you can cope with it, and while it’s happening you can’t wait for the moment when it’s all over. But can anything in the world can compare with the hot drink afterwards, whatever form that might take?