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Articles > Poetry > 10 Greatest Love Poems of All Time

The Greatest Love Poetry of All Time

By Gary R. Hess. Category: Poetry
10 love poems

Witnessing the greatest poetry to have ever been written is something many of us strive for. We dive through books and other media in hopes of finding something our heart knows is truly great and will never be matched again in our lifetime.

There have been many poets throughout history which have attempted to reach stardom through romance writings. Nevertheless, many have been forgotten and are rarely heard from in today's society. Here you will find PoemOfQuotes' favorite poetry for the greatest romantic poems of all time.

Top 10 Favorite Love Poems

  1. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

    A Shakrespearean sonnet cherished for over 400 years for it's hopefulness and promis of eternal and unchanging love.

    Let me not to the marriage of true minds 
    Admit impediments. Love is not love 
    Which alters when it alteration finds, 
    Or bends with the remover to remove. 
    O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 
    That looks on tempests and is never shaken; 
    It is the star to every wand'ring bark, 
    Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. 
    Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 
    Within his bending sickle's compass come; 
    Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
    But bears it out even to the edge of doom. 
    If this be error and upon me prov'd, 
    I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
    

  2. Love One Another by Kahlil Gibran

    This poem, also titled "On Marriage" explains the great bond between two people and the importance to share, but also the importance to have things to yourself.

    You were born together, and together you shall be forever more.
    You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
    Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
    But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
    And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
    
    Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
    Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
    Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.
    Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.
    Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone,
    Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
    
    Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
    For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
    And stand together yet not too near together:
    For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
    And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow

  3. Meeting at Night by Robert Browning

    Love is sometimes something we must go through hurdles to have, but in the end, we are happy and joyful. This poem is listed as a "must read aloud" to gain full appreciation of the writing.

    The grey sea and the long black land;
    And the yellow half-moon large and low;
    And the startled little waves that leap
    In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
    As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
    And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.
    
    Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
    Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
    A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
    And blue spurt of a lighted match,
    And a voice less loud, thro' its joys and fears,
    Than the two hearts beating each to each!

  4. My River by Emily Dickinson

    Love comes and asks to take her away. She hesitates slightly before agreeing and fleeing into the wonderful sea of love.

    My River runs to thee.
    Blue sea, wilt thou welcome me?
    My river awaits reply.
    Oh! Sea, look graciously.
    
    I'll fetch thee brooks
    From spotted nooks.
    Say, sea,
    Take me!

  5. Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley

    Shelley is masterful in describing love and his philosophy for how it should be treated.

    The fountains mingle with the river
    And the rivers with the Ocean,
    The winds of Heaven mix for ever
    With a sweet emotion;
    Nothing in the world is single;
    All things by a law divine
    in one spirit meet and mingle.
    Why not I with thine?-
    
    See the mountains kiss high Heaven
    And the waves clasp one another;
    No sister-flower would be forgiven
    If it disdained its brother;
    And the sunlight clasps the earth
    And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
    What is all this sweet work worth
    If thou kiss not me?

  6. Maud by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    A poem about an unnamed lover where the narrator encounters life, death, and the question of afterlife.

    This poem is too long to list here. Click the link above to view the entire poem.

  7. Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

    A love so strong that even the angels are jealous. This is Poe's last complete poem and arguably one of his best poetry writings.

    It was many and many a year ago,
    In a kingdom by the sea,
    That a maiden there lived whom you may know
    By the name of Annabel Lee;
    And this maiden she lived with no other thought
    Than to love and be loved by me.
    
    I was a child and she was a child,
    In this kingdom by the sea:
    But we loved with a love that was more than love—
    I and my Annabel Lee;
    With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
    Coveted her and me.
    
    And this was the reason that, long ago,
    In this kingdom by the sea,
    A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
    My beautiful Annabel Lee;
    So that her highborn kinsman came
    And bore her away from me,
    To shut her up in a sepulchre
    In this kingdom by the sea.
    
    The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
    Went envying her and me—
    Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
    In this kingdom by the sea)
    That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
    Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
    
    But our love it was stronger by far than the love
    Of those who were older than we—
    Of many far wiser than we—
    And neither the angels in heaven above,
    Nor the demons down under the sea,
    Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
    Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
    
    For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
    Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
    And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
    Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
    And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
    Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,
    In the sepulchre there by the sea,
    In her tomb by the sounding sea.

  8. Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast as Thou Art by John Keats

    The poet wishes upon the sky to have his love as constant as the bright stars above.

    Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art
    Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
    And watching, with eternal lids apart,
    Like nature's patient sleepless eremite,
    The moving waters at their priestlike task
    Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
    Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
    Of snow upon the mountains and the moors;
    No yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
    Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
    To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
    Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
    Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
    And so live ever or else swoon to death.

  9. To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

    The author tries to convince a woman to respond to his love and make the most of their passion with the short time they have to live.

    This poem is too long to list here. Click the link above to view the entire poem.

  10. Troilus and Criseyde (Download .zip) by Geoffrey Chaucer

    The tragic retelling of the Siege of Troy. This is considered to be Chaucer's finest work.

These poems are recognized around the world as some of the best love poems ever written. Whether you agree or not is another matter. However, they should definitely be put into the conversation and not forgotten about in libraries around the world.