This list of love poems spans the ages, from the great works of romantic poets such as Keats, Byron and Wordsworth to more contemporary pieces by Sylvia Plath and Maggie Smith. Exploring themes of passion, love, age and loss, these famous poems are perfect Valentine's Day reading.
'How do I love thee?'
1. ‘To My Dear and Loving Husband’ – Anne Bradstreet
‘If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.’
2. ‘How Do I Love Thee’ – Elizabeth Barett Browning
‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.’
3. 'A Red, Red Rose' – Robert Burns
'O my Luve is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June...'
4. 'She Walks in Beauty' – Lord Byron
'She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies...'
'She walks in beauty, like the night...'
5. 'Love' – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
'All thoughts, all passions, all delights, Whatever stirs this mortal frame...'
6. 'i carry your heart with me' – E. E. Cummings
'i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart)'
7. 'Airs and Angels' – John Donne
'Twice or thrice had I lov'd thee...'
8. 'Echo' – Carol Anne Duffy
'I think I was searching for treasures or stones in the clearest of pools...'
'Had we but world enough and time...'
9. 'Bright Star' – John Keats
'Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—'
10. 'To His Coy Mistress' – Andrew Marvel
'Had we but world enough and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.'
11. 'When I Too Long Have Looked Upon Your Face' – Edna St. Vincent Millay
'When I too long have looked upon your face,
Wherein for me a brightness unobscured...'
12. 'Annabel Lee' – Edgar Allen Poe
'It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea...'
'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'
13. 'Sonnet 18' – William Shakespeare
'Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?'
14. 'Sonnet 116' – William Shakespeare
'Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments...'
15. 'Love’s Philosophy' – Percy Bysshe Shelley
'The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean...'
16. 'Good Bones' – Maggie Smith
'Life is short, though I keep this from my children.'
'I seem to have loved you in numberless forms...'
17. 'Unending Love' – Rabindranath Tagore
'I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…'
18. 'How Does Love Speak?' – Ella Wheeler Wilcox
'How does Love speak?
In the faint flush upon the tell-tale cheek...'
19. 'She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways' – William Wordsworth
'She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove...'
20. 'When You are Old' – W. B. Yeats
'When you are old and grey and full of sleep...'
For those who don't know...
St Valentine was a 3rd Century Roman Saint, whose day of commemoration on 14th February has long been associated with a tradition of courtly love. Throughout history, poets have been inspired by this day of love and notions of passion, friendship, and intimacy more widely, as seen in this list of wonderful poems.
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