Famous Love Poetry has some of the most famed love poetry ever written.

Famous Love Poetry is a rich source of wonderful love poetry for devotees of the genre. Let us look at some of the love verses of three well known authors and a contemporary gospel music lyricist...Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Steven Curtis Chapman.

Lord George Gordon Noel Byron (6th Baron) 1788 - 1824 was a famous English poet, playwright and satirist of the Romantic period. Here are two noteworthy contributions of his art for my page on Famous Love Poetry:

She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

When We Two Parted

When we two parted

In silence and tears,

Half broken-hearted

To sever the years,

Pale grew thy cheek and cold,

Colder, thy kiss;

Truly that hour foretold

Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning

Sunk, chill on my brow,

It felt like the warning

Of what I feel now.

Thy vows are all broken,

And light is thy fame;

I hear thy name spoken,

And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,

A knell to mine ear;

A shudder comes o'er me...

Why wert thou so dear?

They know not I knew thee,

Who knew thee too well..

Long, long shall I rue thee,

Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met

In silence I grieve

That thy heart could forget,

Thy spirit deceive.

If I should meet thee

After long years,

How should I greet thee?

With silence and tears.

"She Walks In Beauty" is a classic example of Famous Love Poetry. Here are some more from Robert Burns, William Blake and Samuel Coleridge Taylor.

Robert Burns 1759-1796 was also a great Scottish Poet and lyricist. Among his most famous poems are "Auld lang syne", "Coming thro the the rye" and "A Red Red Rose" which is included here as his contribution to famous love poetry:

A Red, Red Rose

O my Luve's like a red, red rose

That's newly sprung in June;

O my Luve's like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun;

I will luve thee still, my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge also contributed to Famous Love Poetry with this memorable poem:

Desire

Where true Love burns Desire is Love's pure flame;

It is the reflex of our earthly frame,

That takes its meaning from the nobler part,

And but translates the language of the heart.

Here is another equally famous love poetry. This time the author is William Blake:

The Clod and the Pebble

by William Blake (1757-1827)

Love seeketh not Itself to please,

Nor for itself hath any care;

But for another gives its ease,

And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.

So sang a little Clod of Clay,

Trodden with the cattle's feet;

But a Pebble of the brook,

Warbled out these metres meet.

Love seeketh only Self to please,

To bind another to Its delight:

Joys in anothers loss of ease,

And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.

Two poets contribute to the conclusion of this page of various examples of Famous Love Poetry. Robert Frost and Steven Curtis Chapman. The latter is a rather marked departure from earlier contributors. Steven Curtis Chapman is a singer and modern day songwriter in the gospel music genre, his accomplishments include several Grammy Awards that have fuelled his status as the king of Christian music.

I have chosen the lyrics of his popular song "I Will Be Here" for its sheer romanticism as his own notable contribution to famous love poetry:

I Will Be Here

If in the morning when you wake,

If the sun does not appear,

I will be here.

If in the dark we lose sight of love,

Hold my hand and have no fear,

I will be here.

I will be here,

When you feel like being quiet,

When you need to speak your mind I will listen.

Through the winning, losing, and trying we'll be together,

And I will be here.

If in the morning when you wake,

If the future is unclear,

I will be here.

As sure as seasons were made for change,

Our lifetimes were made for years,

I will be here.

Bereft

by Robert Frost

Where had I heard this wind before

Change like this to a deeper roar?

What would it take my standing there for,

Holding open a restive door,

Looking downhill to a frothy shore?

Summer was past and day was past.

Somber clouds in the west were massed.

Out in the porch's sagging floor

Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,

Blindly struck at my knee and missed.

Something sinister in the tone

Told me my secret must be known:

Word I was in the house alone

Somehow must have gotten abroad,

Word I was in my life alone,

Word I had no one left but God.

Reluctance

Out through the fields and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

Famous Love Poetry Examples 2

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If you like Famous Love Poetry and would like to receive more information directly in your inbox, subscribe to my Love Poetry of The World newsletter

Return from Famous Love Poetry to Love Poetry of The World