This post covers 15 poets and authors known for romantic writing, from Shakespeare to Pablo Neruda to Rupi Kaur, with a short note on what each is known for.
Classic Love Poems
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare’s sonnets, published together in 1609, are a common starting point for love poetry in English. Two well-known examples are Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 147. From “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” to “My love is as a fever, longing still,” the range is wide. Sonnet 18 praises a beloved’s beauty, while Sonnet 147, from the Dark Lady sequence, describes desire as a sickness. Both are worth reading in full.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote one of the best-known love sonnets in English. Her poem “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” is Sonnet 43 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, published in 1850. The 44 sonnets in that sequence were written while she was courting Robert Browning, and despite the title they are her own work, not translations.
Lord Byron
Lord Byron’s scandalous reputation sometimes overshadows his gentler side. Poems such as “She Walks in Beauty,” show how well he could capture grace and beauty. That poem was written in 1814 after he saw his cousin’s wife, Anne Wilmot, at a London party, and it was published in Hebrew Melodies in 1815.
Modern Love Poems
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971. He is known for sensual, romantic verse, and his collection “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair” became his most popular book. The book was published in 1924, when Neruda was 19. It moves from sensual passion toward melancholy and closes with a bitter poem about despair.
Lang Leav
Lang Leav has made a name for herself as a poet who captures the essence of modern love. Her poems are often short and sweet, yet they have a profound impact on readers. Her debut collection, Love & Misadventure, was self-published in 2013 and traces a relationship from first crush to breakup. Leav was born in Thailand, grew up in Sydney, and illustrates her own books.
Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur has gained widespread recognition for her raw and honest poetry. Her debut collection, “Milk and Honey,” dives deep into the pain, healing, and empowerment that comes with love and relationships. She self-published it in 2014. The book is organized in four sections, the hurting, the loving, the breaking and the healing, and covers romantic love, heartbreak, abuse, self-love and recovery.
Love Poems from Literature
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson may be known for her introspective and enigmatic poetry, but she also penned some beautiful love poems. One example is “Wild Nights,” written around 1861 and first published in 1891, five years after her death. It is one of her most openly passionate poems.
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (1759 to 1796) is Scotland’s best-known poet. His song “A Red, Red Rose” was first published in 1794. It is written in Scots, draws on older folk songs and was meant to be sung.
E.E. Cummings
E.E. Cummings (1894 to 1962) is known for unusual punctuation, spacing and capitalization, and many of his poems play with the look of the words on the page. His poems about love are intimate and often playful.
Famous Romantic Quotes
Jane Austen
Jane Austen, the beloved author of classic romance novels, is also known for her insightful and romantic quotes. She lived from 1775 to 1817 and wrote six novels, including Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Persuasion, which show courtship in early 19th-century England. Many Austen quotes online come from film adaptations rather than the novels, so check a line against the book before you use it.
Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Sparks, the master of modern romance, is famous for his heartwarming and bittersweet love stories. His first novel, The Notebook, was published in 1996 and adapted into a film in 2004. Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember were also filmed. His stories center on devoted couples and often end in loss.
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo (1802 to 1885) was a French poet, playwright and novelist, best known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Les Misérables, published in 1862, follows the love story of Marius and Cosette alongside Jean Valjean’s story of sacrifice. Be careful with quotes credited to Hugo online: some widely shared “Les Misérables” love lines come from the stage musical’s lyrics, not from his novel.
Poems for Wedding Vows
Rumi
Rumi (1207 to 1273) was a Persian poet and Sufi mystic whose verse is often read at weddings. Much of it is about love of the divine, so couples usually choose a passage that suits a marriage ceremony. Many Rumi quotes online are loose adaptations or have no known source, so look for a named translator before you print a reading in a program.
Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet, one of America’s first published poets, offers a unique perspective on love and marriage. She lived from about 1612 to 1672, and her book The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America was published in London in 1650. For a marriage reading, try “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” a short poem she wrote in the early 1640s for her husband, Simon Bradstreet.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou (1928 to 2014) was an American poet, memoirist and civil rights activist. Her poem “Touched by an Angel” is about love and appears on many lists of wedding readings. Her poems are still under copyright, so check permissions before printing one in a program.
The writers above range from Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Lang Leav and Rupi Kaur, and the forms run from sonnets to free verse. Before you use any of these in a card, toast or ceremony, read the full poem and check the edition or translation.
More to explore: 10 Best Romantic Poems, Sweet Words of Love: Short Romantic Poems and Romantic Wedding Love Poems.
