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Love Poems
Love desired. Love denied. Love fulfilled. Love gone by. For centuries we have expressed our love through the written word, making a gift of language and giving shape to the feelings of the heart. Love Poems is a collection of the world's greatest love poetry, by its greatest masters, including John Donne, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lord Byron, Dylan Thomas, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Frost, W.H. Auden, Emily Dickinson, and many others.
Featuring Dante's "My Lady Carries Love Within Her Eyes," Poe's haunting "Annabel Lee," William Wordsworth's "She Was a Phantom Delight," Emily Bronte's "Remembrance," and Andrew Marvell's eloquent "The Definition of Love," this treasury of love poems expresses as only poets can the ideals and passions of the human heart.
- GenresPoetryLiterature
254 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 25, 2021
In 2002 publisher Barnes & Noble and editor David Burr gave us this lovely little book of love poems which run the gamut from classic to modern, gently romantic to outright erotic. Among its 254 pages can be found "Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love" by W.H. Auden, "When You Are Old, and Grey (and full of sleep)" by W.B. Yeats (which featured prominently in the movie PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED), numerous Shakespeare sonnets, and "I Am Two Fools, I Know" by John Donne. An earlier reviewer bemoaned the lack of non-Anglophone poets like Pablo Neruda; to be sure, this book is entirely in the Anglo-Irish American canon.
Very high quality copies of LOVE POEMS are fairly easy to find, and the assiduous purchaser will be rewarded with a Picasso sketch on its dust jacket. At a price not too far from a good greeting card, LOVE POEMS might make a nice impromptu present to one's beloved.
Very high quality copies of LOVE POEMS are fairly easy to find, and the assiduous purchaser will be rewarded with a Picasso sketch on its dust jacket. At a price not too far from a good greeting card, LOVE POEMS might make a nice impromptu present to one's beloved.
July 15, 2025
I was never super likely to like this book as it's both poetry and romance, but it was given to me as a gift and so I figured I'd try it before giving it away.
First off, the book itself is very nice. It's a fun size with fancy, crinkly edges to the pages. Together with the feel of the cover meant I really wanted to like it as it's a nice book to have on a bookshelf.
Alas, it was not to be.
Very few of the actual poems in the book sparked my interest and most of those were ones I already knew and was aware of. The exceptions being Francis Thompson's "An Arab Love-Song", Thomas Moore's "An Argument", and Lady Mary Wroth's "Song".
Even worse, where some poets with dozens of good and applicable poems only had one or two in this anthology, others had what felt like dozens of boring and unappealing poems here. Those sections really dragged on and on.
Would not recommend.
First off, the book itself is very nice. It's a fun size with fancy, crinkly edges to the pages. Together with the feel of the cover meant I really wanted to like it as it's a nice book to have on a bookshelf.
Alas, it was not to be.
Very few of the actual poems in the book sparked my interest and most of those were ones I already knew and was aware of. The exceptions being Francis Thompson's "An Arab Love-Song", Thomas Moore's "An Argument", and Lady Mary Wroth's "Song".
Even worse, where some poets with dozens of good and applicable poems only had one or two in this anthology, others had what felt like dozens of boring and unappealing poems here. Those sections really dragged on and on.
Would not recommend.
January 21, 2020
A nice collection of poems that explores the many facets of love. With selections from authors from the 20th century to all the way back before Christ, you realize people have been writing about love for possibly forever. Thousands of years later, love still brings the worst heartbreak, or the greatest joy. Sometimes both. In the end love hasn't changed, and it never will.
July 19, 2024
I ❤️ poetry
This helped me discover poets I do and don’t like as well as style, I liked soooo many of these
I however didn’t like the order of them, it was weird, not alphabetical or oldest to newest or theme, just thrown in there!
This helped me discover poets I do and don’t like as well as style, I liked soooo many of these
I however didn’t like the order of them, it was weird, not alphabetical or oldest to newest or theme, just thrown in there!
March 2, 2014
February, 2014, demonstrated that she could be brutally unforgiving with relentless, icy fingers wrapped around our collective necks. She smiled as her snow laden skirt blanketed a massive swath of land. Mortals begged a modest reprieve when blasted with repeated storms and she sneered, "Who's in charge here?"
She conspired with a chubby cherub mid-month on a holiday called Valentine's Day.
"We'll tease them with warmth and sweetness," she whispered to Cupid. "Don't forget. My job is not finished."
He nodded and grinned as he filled his quiver with arrows to be used for his own fanciful work. He understood he was not appropriately dressed as her icy breath hit his bare legs and she pushed him out the door.
For the cynics, Valentine's Day is too much saccharine and corporate ploy. For those with damaged hearts, it's a day to be ignored. The poets are aware of this information. They listen. They observe. They use every sense and transport words onto paper.
February is kissed goodbye with Love Poems. It is a collection of poetry written by anonymous and famous authors. It includes works that detail every aspect of the emotion of "love." Joy, tenderness, regret, and heartbreak are expressed with eloquence. Love Poems was enjoyed by this reader across the month of February to relieve winter's chill. It will remain on a shelf with a return visit planned next year because of the variety of authors and the beauty of the language.
She conspired with a chubby cherub mid-month on a holiday called Valentine's Day.
"We'll tease them with warmth and sweetness," she whispered to Cupid. "Don't forget. My job is not finished."
He nodded and grinned as he filled his quiver with arrows to be used for his own fanciful work. He understood he was not appropriately dressed as her icy breath hit his bare legs and she pushed him out the door.
For the cynics, Valentine's Day is too much saccharine and corporate ploy. For those with damaged hearts, it's a day to be ignored. The poets are aware of this information. They listen. They observe. They use every sense and transport words onto paper.
February is kissed goodbye with Love Poems. It is a collection of poetry written by anonymous and famous authors. It includes works that detail every aspect of the emotion of "love." Joy, tenderness, regret, and heartbreak are expressed with eloquence. Love Poems was enjoyed by this reader across the month of February to relieve winter's chill. It will remain on a shelf with a return visit planned next year because of the variety of authors and the beauty of the language.
April 24, 2009
I love this type of books
Small and light- you can read it while laying down without hurting your wriste.
Precise- Presents the best love poems for each poet, so you don't have to go through ten books to read a romantic theme.
Small and light- you can read it while laying down without hurting your wriste.
Precise- Presents the best love poems for each poet, so you don't have to go through ten books to read a romantic theme.
February 18, 2013
You smiled, you spoke, and I believed,
By every word and smile deceived,
Another man would hope no more,
Nor hope I what I hoped before,
But not let this last wish be vain:
Deceive, Deceive me once again:
Walter Savage Landor
1775-1864
By every word and smile deceived,
Another man would hope no more,
Nor hope I what I hoped before,
But not let this last wish be vain:
Deceive, Deceive me once again:
Walter Savage Landor
1775-1864
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews