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What’s love in a poem? This simply means the celebration of love and prioritisation of the theme of love in a poetic work. This article centres on poems composed from a romantic standpoint.

There is nothing quite so moving as beautiful love poems. Luckily for us romantics, they have been in abundant supply throughout history!

From Rumi in the Islamic Golden Age, to iconic playwright William Shakespeare, to modern-day “Instapoets” like Rupi Kaur, love has been one of the most-explored themes among artists and poets for centuries. 

In this article, we’ve put together the 5 most beautiful love poems ever written. Whether you’re looking for something to share with your partner, seeking solace after a breakup, or craving inspiration for how to write your own passionate prose, there’s bound to be a poem on this list which speaks to your heart.

5 Poems About Love

1. “Bird-Understander” by Craig Arnold

These are your own words

your way of noticing

and saying plainly

of not turning away

from hurt

you have offered them 

to me    I am only 

giving them back 

if only I could show you

how very useless 

they are not

The raw honesty of Craig Arnold’s poetry makes ‘Bird-Understander’ a good pick for our list of the most beautiful love poems. In this poem, Arnold recounts a moment with his partner that makes his love grow even stronger.

The language is simple yet evocative, putting a strong metaphor in the reader’s mind and facilitating a deeper understanding of Arnold’s emotions.

2. “Habitation” by Margaret Atwood

at the back where we squat 

outside, eating popcorn

the edge of the receding glacier

where painfully and with wonder

at having survived even

this far

we are learning to make fire

Best known for her alarmingly realistic dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates similar strengths in this piece: ‘Habitation’ is strikingly real.

For context, Atwood here admits to the challenges of marriage and acknowledges the sacrifice needed to overcome them. It is this candor which makes the poem that beautiful.

3. “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden

Were all stars to disappear or die, 

I should learn to look at an empty sky

And feel its total dark sublime, 

Though this might take me a little time.

While poems about heartbreak might not be as uplifting as those about the joys of love, they can be equally as beautiful and meaningful.

The celestial extended metaphor of W.H. Auden’s ‘The More Loving One’ demonstrates this — though ultimately he would rather be ‘the more loving one’ himself, Auden rightly encapsulates the pain of loss when love ends.

4. “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet 

Thy love is such I can no way repay;

The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

Then while we live, in love let’s so persever, 

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Anne Bradstreet’s Puritan belief that marriage is a gift from God comes across strongly in ‘To My Dear and Loving Husband.’

Reading it through a modern lens, it’s easy to start the poem feeling a little skeptical; however, Bradstreet’s genuine gratitude and dedication to her husband soon manifests to make it a deeply moving assertion of true love.

5. “Always for the First Time” by André Breton

There is a silk ladder unrolled across the ivy

There is

That leaning over the precipice 

Of the hopeless fusion of your presence and absence 

I have found the secret 

Of loving you

Always for the first time

‘Always for the First Time’ is André Breton’s ode to a lady he has not met, but is willing to wait every day for.

Breton was the French founder of the surrealist movement, which aimed to blur the lines between dreams and reality in art — explaining the rather whimsical nature of this amazing love poem. 

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