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Love Found: 50 Classic Poems of Desire, Longing, and Devotion
For new sweethearts and long-wed couples alike, poetry is the ultimate gift of love. The classic love poems gathered in this elegant volume capture the full spectrum of romance—desire, longing, passion, and partnership. From Emily Dickinson's steamy declaration that "were I with thee / wild nights should be / our luxury!" to Langston Hughes's gorgeous image of love as "a ripe plum / growing on a purple tree," this is an exquisite collection of swoon-worthy love poems for the ages. Curated by authors Jessica Strand and Leslie Jonath, with illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis, Love Found is perfect for Valentine's Day, weddings, anniversaries, or spur-of-the-moment romantic gestures.
- GenresPoetryNonfiction
96 pages, Hardcover
Published September 12, 2017
15 people are currently reading
343 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Orkin Lewis
5 books9 followersJennifer Orkin Lewis is a freelance illustrator and textile designer who paints for 30 minutes every day in her sketchbook and posts the results on Instagram (@augustwren). Her clients include Kate Spade, Anthropologie, Flow Magazine, and teNeues. She lives in Irvington, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 28, 2017
HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY DAY
This gorgeous anthology proves as beautiful outside as in. Bound in a rich red, blue, and gold cover, with a mixture of textures for ultimate aesthetic pleasure, this book recalls pure elegance. And in the interior is no different. A collection of fifty, relatively small poems adorn the pages, with a large portion also coming accompanied with one of Jennifer Orkin Lewis's stunning illustrations. This book truly is love found at first sight!
The book is split into three chapters: 'Desire and Longing', 'Heartbreak and Loss', and 'Passion and Partnership'. This makes the anthology easily accessible for those wishing to dip in-and-out of at random as well as capturing the full spectrum of romance. With easy access to the theme you are wishing for, as well as the renowned name of the classic poets therein, this truly is a collection that provides ultimate joy for every reader.
This gorgeous anthology proves as beautiful outside as in. Bound in a rich red, blue, and gold cover, with a mixture of textures for ultimate aesthetic pleasure, this book recalls pure elegance. And in the interior is no different. A collection of fifty, relatively small poems adorn the pages, with a large portion also coming accompanied with one of Jennifer Orkin Lewis's stunning illustrations. This book truly is love found at first sight!
The book is split into three chapters: 'Desire and Longing', 'Heartbreak and Loss', and 'Passion and Partnership'. This makes the anthology easily accessible for those wishing to dip in-and-out of at random as well as capturing the full spectrum of romance. With easy access to the theme you are wishing for, as well as the renowned name of the classic poets therein, this truly is a collection that provides ultimate joy for every reader.
Read
July 11, 2019Favourite poems/poems which I connected to in some way:
- Openness by Wislawa Szymborska
- A Love Song by William Carlos Williams
- (I carry your heart with me) by E.E. Cummings
- When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats
- One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
- Love After Love by Derek Walcott
- Do Not Stand By My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye
- Dreaming of Li Po by Tu Fu
- Sonnet XVI by Pablo Neruda
- Deep in Love by Bhavabhuti
- Openness by Wislawa Szymborska
- A Love Song by William Carlos Williams
- (I carry your heart with me) by E.E. Cummings
- When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats
- One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
- Love After Love by Derek Walcott
- Do Not Stand By My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye
- Dreaming of Li Po by Tu Fu
- Sonnet XVI by Pablo Neruda
- Deep in Love by Bhavabhuti
Read
December 2, 2019My favourites selection:
Openness by Wislawa Szymborska (excerpt)
Here we are, naked lovers,
Beautiful to each other - and that’s enough -
The leaves of our eyelids our only covers,
We’re lying amidst deep night.
Love song by Joseph Brodsky
If you were drowning, I’d come to the rescue,
Wrap you in my blanket and pour hot tea.
If I were a sheriff, I’d arrest you
And keep you in the cell under lock and key.
If you were a bird, I’d cut a record
And listen all night to your high-pitched trill.
If I were a sergeant, you’d be my recruit,
And boy I can assure you’d love the drill.
If you were Chinese, I’d learn the languages,
Burn a lot of incense, were funny clothes.
If you were a mirror, I’d storm the Ladies’,
Give you my red lipstick and puff your nose.
If you loved volcanoes, I’d be lava
Relentlessly erupting from my hidden source.
And if you were my wife, I’d be your lover
Because the church is firmly against divorce.
Love song for Lucinda by Langston Hughes (excerpt)
Love
Is a ripe plum
Growing on a purple tree.
Taste it once
And the spell of its enchantment
Will never let you be.
The Garden by Jacques Prévert
Thousands and thousands of years
Would not suffice
To tell of
The sweet moment of eternity
When you kissed me
When I kissed you
One moment in the light of winter
In Montsouris Park in Paris
In Paris
Upon this Earth
This Earth which is a star.
I carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing my darling)
I fear no fate (for your are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
And it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
And whatever a sin 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 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).
Bread and music by Conrad Potter Aiken (excerpt)
Music I heard with you was more than music,
And bread I broke with you was more than bread;
Now that I am without you, all is desolate;
All that was once so beautiful is dead.
Do not stand by my grave and weep by Mary Elisabeth Frye
Do not stand by my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun in ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the mornings hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circles flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
Bei Hennef by D. H. Lawrence (excerpt)
You are the call and I am the answer,
You are the wish, and I the fulfilment,
You are the night, and I the day.
What else - it is perfect enough,
It is perfectly complete,
You and I.
Strange, how we suffer in spite of this!
A word to husbands by Ogden Nash
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
Openness by Wislawa Szymborska (excerpt)
Here we are, naked lovers,
Beautiful to each other - and that’s enough -
The leaves of our eyelids our only covers,
We’re lying amidst deep night.
Love song by Joseph Brodsky
If you were drowning, I’d come to the rescue,
Wrap you in my blanket and pour hot tea.
If I were a sheriff, I’d arrest you
And keep you in the cell under lock and key.
If you were a bird, I’d cut a record
And listen all night to your high-pitched trill.
If I were a sergeant, you’d be my recruit,
And boy I can assure you’d love the drill.
If you were Chinese, I’d learn the languages,
Burn a lot of incense, were funny clothes.
If you were a mirror, I’d storm the Ladies’,
Give you my red lipstick and puff your nose.
If you loved volcanoes, I’d be lava
Relentlessly erupting from my hidden source.
And if you were my wife, I’d be your lover
Because the church is firmly against divorce.
Love song for Lucinda by Langston Hughes (excerpt)
Love
Is a ripe plum
Growing on a purple tree.
Taste it once
And the spell of its enchantment
Will never let you be.
The Garden by Jacques Prévert
Thousands and thousands of years
Would not suffice
To tell of
The sweet moment of eternity
When you kissed me
When I kissed you
One moment in the light of winter
In Montsouris Park in Paris
In Paris
Upon this Earth
This Earth which is a star.
I carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)
I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing my darling)
I fear no fate (for your are my fate, my sweet)
I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
And it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
And whatever a sin 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 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).
Bread and music by Conrad Potter Aiken (excerpt)
Music I heard with you was more than music,
And bread I broke with you was more than bread;
Now that I am without you, all is desolate;
All that was once so beautiful is dead.
Do not stand by my grave and weep by Mary Elisabeth Frye
Do not stand by my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun in ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the mornings hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circles flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
Bei Hennef by D. H. Lawrence (excerpt)
You are the call and I am the answer,
You are the wish, and I the fulfilment,
You are the night, and I the day.
What else - it is perfect enough,
It is perfectly complete,
You and I.
Strange, how we suffer in spite of this!
A word to husbands by Ogden Nash
To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.
October 3, 2020
The illustrations were a lovely part of this book. The poem selection was spotty. I found a few new gems, renewed my appreciation from some well known poems, but several seemed misplaced in this collection. I know that is a point of view as each of us would want to emphasize different things about poems about love.
December 18, 2017
Amazing collection.
May 25, 2018
Includes some of my favorites and others I cannot fathom why they are in the collection of poems. Oh well. Perhaps another day they will be poems I need.
May 31, 2018
I thought the illustrations in the book were the best parts. Very unique and beautiful.
August 6, 2019
The illustrations are really cute
January 7, 2021
Ok poetry on love and heartbreak.
December 16, 2022
A beautiful and well-considered collection. Features poets from different cultures and periods, with beautiful illustrations throughout.
May 7, 2023
3.5 stars. There are some beloved poems in the collection and the illustrations are cute. Fun book to read in a Sunday afternoon.
February 16, 2025
I appreciated this collection of poetry but really was enthralled by the illustrations by Jennifer Orrin Lewis that are so fresh and lively.
February 25, 2025
4/5
Nice little collection. Beautiful cover, gorgeous artwork to accompany the poems. I picked this up specifically because it had one of my favorite poems in it ("One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop) and enjoyed reading through them all, finding a few others that I liked. I'll definitely reach for this book again.
Nice little collection. Beautiful cover, gorgeous artwork to accompany the poems. I picked this up specifically because it had one of my favorite poems in it ("One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop) and enjoyed reading through them all, finding a few others that I liked. I'll definitely reach for this book again.
June 21, 2022
Some bangers. Some I didn’t resonate with. Overall, a great collection and an easy read.
3/5
3/5
July 19, 2018
This gift book of poems is beautifully bound and beautifully illustrated. I gave it to a friend of mine who is getting married this month and it was the perfect gift. The selected poems are wonderful and diverse. It's a great addition to any library or a great gift for a partner or friend.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 20, 2020
Nice little collection. I loved the pictures. There were some poems I was meh about, and some, new and old, that I adored. Looking forward to picking it up now and then through the years for a warm gem to enjoy.
Read
June 16, 2018A nice option if you’re ever for simple, themed workshop prompts.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews