Poems about Love - Poem Analysis (2024)

‘Mad Girl’s Love Song’ by Sylvia Plath explores the truth of a relationship. The speaker wonders how deep and meaningful it really was.

This is a beautiful poem with a haunting refrain. It seems to be about unrequited love and it captures that essence beautifully with such vibrant passion that you can’t help but fall for the poet a little. And that is why it is, in our opinion the greatest love poem of all time. Not the most famous, but the most beautiful.

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;

I lift my lids and all is born again.

(I think I made you up inside my head.)

One of cummings’ seminal pieces. It is also one of the greatest love poems ever written, with its beautiful refrain. It isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, this is simply a person telling another person how much they care and it’s done in a timelessly beautiful way.

Cummings' poem, renowned for its profound impact, stands as one of the greatest love poems, celebrated for its exquisite refrain. Far from seeking novelty, it embodies the timeless beauty of expressing deep affection. The poem's simplicity in conveying heartfelt emotions is what elevates it, making it a quintessential example of love expressed through words, and securing its place as a top love poem.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

Kevin Young’s masterpiece uses short couplets and single lines to emphasize the gritty nature of this love poem. Like some of his contemporaries, he focuses on the darker side of love and what it can do to a person.

Kevin Young's poem, crafted in succinct couplets and standalone lines, masterfully accentuates the raw, unvarnished aspects of love. Echoing the styles of poets like Plath, Young delves into love's shadowy facets, exploring its profound impact on the human psyche. The poem's stark, vivid imagery and its exploration of love's darker dimensions offer a compelling, gritty take on the complexities of romantic relationships.

I am hoping

to hang your head

on my wall

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in shame—

‘I Do Not Love You,’ also known as ‘Sonnet 17,’ is certainly one of Pablo Neruda’s best-known and widely loved poems.

In many ways, Neruda is this king of romantic poetry. His passion emanates through his words making them the type of love poetry that amateur scribblers like me can only aspire to. This particular poem may not be his most famous love poem, but it is one of his best. Within it he brutally dissects the fine line between love and hatred and zooms in on just how close those two emotions seem to lie.

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

This poem is a small but perfectly formed beauty. William compares love itself to nature in a lilting poem with a tight rhyme scheme that can’t help but inspire the reader’s inner cupid.

This lesser-known 19th-century poet crafts a compact yet exquisite piece, drawing a parallel between love and nature. The poem's melodious quality and strict rhyme scheme effortlessly evoke romantic sentiments, stirring the reader's inner cupid. Its charm lies in the seamless blend of natural imagery with the universal theme of love, presented in a rhythmically pleasing format.

Love is enough: though the World be a-waning,

And the woods have no voice but the voice of complaining,

Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover

Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’ praises timeless beauty, rooted in virtues that endure beyond the fleeting beauty of the youth.

Love is a central theme in this poem that celebrates true affection's enduring power. The poem suggests that love can transcend the limitations of time and mortality and can inspire acts of compassion, kindness, and generosity. Shakespeare's exploration of love reflects his belief in the transformative power of human connection and his conviction that the bonds of affection are essential to the human experience.

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:

The ‘Hymn to Aphrodite’ by Sappho is an ancient lyric in which Sappho begs for Aphrodite’s help in managing her turbulent love life.

Sappho's delicate, yet relatable, handling of the theme of love in 'Hymn to Aphrodite' is extraordinary. As a poem that is over 2,500 years old, it still rings true in the hearts of anyone who has ever experienced love. This hymn is a true time-tested masterpiece, and it is a quintessential love poem.

Beautiful-throned, immortal Aphrodite,

Daughter of Zeus, beguiler, I implore thee

Weigh me not down with weariness and anguish,

O thou most holy!

‘Why Do I Love You, Sir’ by Emily Dickinson is about one person’s relationship with God. The speaker explores why she loves God through clear and memorable language.

So many great love poems are formed around hypothetical questions. Dickinson may be more famed for her drab and depressing work but this is a fine love poem. The poem plays out almost like a stream of consciousness with the narrator trying to piece together how they feel. The effect is a poem that is deeply relatable giving the reader that addictive sensation of “yep, I know how that girl feels”.

“Why do I love” You, Sir?

Because—

The Wind does not require the Grass

To answer—Wherefore when He pass

‘At that hour when all things have repose’ by James Joyce is a lyrical poem that explores themes of lovelorn solitude and the sublime beauty of music.

James Joyce's poem also hones in on themes involving love. Like other poems in 'Chamber Music,' this one also features a vision of a personification of love, one that wanders the night as the harbinger of this charming but lovelorn music. The result is a poem that expresses the bittersweetness of love's effect on a person.

At that hour when all things have repose,

O lonely watcher of the skies,

Do you hear the night wind and the sighs

Of harps playing unto Love to unclose

‘Gacela of Unforseen Love’ explores the relationship between love and despair through a remembered romance which has run its course.

Love, and its absence, define the poem. The strength of the imagined or remembered union only serves to torture the narrator in the present, when they cannot reach out and touch the one they love.

No one understood the perfume

of the dark magnolia of your womb

Nobody knew that you tormented

a hummingbird of love between your teeth.

‘Lochinvar’ is a ballad about a young and courageous knight who saves his beloved, the fair lady Ellen, from marrying another man.

While the focus of the poem is on the knight Lochinvar, love is what motivates him most throughout the narrative. Though forbidden to marry Ellen, Lochinvar’s boldness, winning courage, and intelligence help him win her back. Walter Scott uses the star-crossed lovers trope in this poem, but only to show the listener that there is no battle that cannot be won if you are courageous and dedicated to love. With dedication on his side, Ellen and Lochinvar ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after.

O young Lochinvar is come out of the west,

Through all the wide Border his steed was the best;

And save his good broadsword he weapons had none,

He rode all unarm’d, and he rode all alone.

‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a memorable poem that talks about an onion that the poet gives her partner as a valentine-gift.

Valentine isn’t your typical slushy affair. It is sweet, but it really emphasizes the fact that love isn’t always about roses and flowers, it isn’t always about grand gestures. Some time love is an onion. (Shrek would approve of the metaphor.) Duffy’s classic, regarded as one of the best love poems ever, effectively portrays the narrator’s feelings that previous wrongdoing can taint love.

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.

It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.

Jean Bleakney’s ‘Consolidation’ is a deeply personal poem about the act of rearranging the cowry shells that the speaker and her children gathered in the past.

This piece is all about motherly love and how a mother longs to be with her children, who have grown up and moved on.

Some sunny, empty afternoon

I’ll pool our decade’s worth

and more of cowrie shells

gathered from that gravel patch

In ‘Sonnet 43’, or ‘How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways’ the speaker is proclaiming her unending passion for her beloved.

A sonnet is a form most commonly associated with love and Browning makes full use of it with this stunning and endearing poem. The opening line has become iconic (and hilariously misquoted by roger Rabbit!) In a way few other poems have this captures the enormity of the feeling of being in love. In essence, she has managed to embody an emotion that many don’t have the words to define.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

‘[love is more thicker than forget]’ by E.E. Cummings conveys the idea that love can be a source of hope, comfort, and joy in times of darkness.

Love is the overwhelmingly central theme of this memorable poem. It depicts love in a way that, perhaps, no poet has ever been capable. Using his characteristic style, Cummings alludes to the nature of love and how it impacts everyone.

love is more thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail