Poetry Please: Love Poems

by BBC Radio, Adrian Henri (Contributor)

'What will survive of us is love.'

In this new anthology poets from across the ages lead us on a journey of love in its many forms. From Shakespeare to Rossetti, Keats to Auden, Byron to Browning an beyond, as well as a host of contemporary voices including Wendy Cope, Simon Armitage and Carol Ann Duffy, this new gathering of timeless love poems speaks to the heart about this most universal of themes.

Whether in marriage or heartbreak, friendship or infatuation, whether in pursuit of the unattainable ideal or else settling down together for life, whether in love or out of it, you will find poems here to touch the heart. A vital assembly of our most treasured and enduring love poems.

Genres: Poetry

208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 2016

Reviews

[Karishma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is lovely in ways I cannot describe. I've discovered poems in it that have moved me in ways that I've never felt moved before. Every shade of loving, in the before and aftermath of it, the betrayal, the pain, the longing, the physical and emotional parts of it, the heft of it and the lightness of it - it's all in this book. Love that lasts a lifetime and love that barely makes it past one night in bed - it's all here. If you read one book of poems in life, make it this one.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

To faint in the light of the sun she loves,
To faint in his light, and to die.

Counting the beats,
Counting the slow heart beats,
The bleeding to death of time in slow heart beats,
Wakeful they lie.

When I first met you I knew I had come at last home,
Home after wandering, home after long puzzled searching,
Home after long being wind-borne, wave-tossed, night-caught,
Long being lost;
And being with you as normal and needful and natural
As sleeping or walking; An I was myself, who had never
Been wholly myself; I was walking and talking an laughing
Easily at last

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

In a long undergrowth of wanting I creep at night the sea is a dark room
I called and called These white corridors are not
free from longing Dear postman Dear night-time, dear
dark mouth hovering over me Dear knee bones
dear palms, dear faithful body I have wants

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously)her first rose

[Liv Rawding · Rating 4 out of 5]

After my recent reading experiences I needed poetry to revitalise me and this was a fantastic anthology Byron,Shakespeare,Keats,Dickinson to name a few E.E Cummings TS. Elliot all fantastic

And one of my absolute favourites to my surprise is a Carol Ann Duffy Poem. Which is so rare for me but it was so emotive and brilliant

And the breakup poems in this are my favourite I have no clue what that says about me but they were immaculate ✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾laura mae☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙ · Rating 5 out of 5]

my personal favs:

blindfold games - hugo williams
delight in disorder- robert herrick
the linen industry- michelle longley
in paris with you - james fenton
lovesong - ted hughes
the lover writes a one-word poem - gavin ewart
modern love- douglas dunn
muse- jo shapcott
packing up- michael fried
sex and the over forties- peter porter
skin full- lavinia greenlaw
talking in bed- philip larkin
to his last lover- simon armitage
true love- sharon olds
two cures for love- wendy cope

[Lisa TB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such beautiful words, got this from a fellow songwriter friend who told me she bought it for me in hopes of giving me inspiration for my songs! Will definitely go back to this book often when I need to 🎶

[Iulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely anthology and some marvellous new to me poems:

“Adrian Henri’s Talking After Christmas Blues” - Adrian Henri
“Bar Italia” & “Blindfold Games” - Hugo Williams
“Dining-Room Tea” & “The Great Lover” - Rupert Brooke
“Love Among the Ruins” - Robert Browning
“To His Lost Lover” - Simon Armitage

[fatima · Rating 1 out of 5]

read 2015/2016

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very lovely collection of poems about love. Some of them I have photocopied for future reading - that's how much I enjoyed them!