From classic poets writing verses to woo their lovers, to modern poets writing lines about a wayward girl they met on the subway, poets will always write about love. Love is deep, passionate, and personal, and poetry is no different.
“A Poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.”
-Robert Frost
We need love poetry. Not just as a means to express ourselves or to fill valentines day cards or cheesy posts we can send to our loved ones. No, we need love poetry to inspire us, to help us understand how we feel when we are in love, and to know that we aren’t alone in our feelings. Love feeds our souls, and poetry is one of the best ways to consume it.
So, to help feed your soul we’ve collected swoon-worthy spoken word performances featuring love. This love poetry playlist is a perfect compilation of classic romantic verse, modern Instagram poems, and spoken word performances. This is how to showcase love.
“Fingers” by Rupi Kaur
“When Love Arrives” by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye
“Heart to Heart” by Rita Dove
More poems by Rita Dove in Collected Poems: 1974-2004
“Sonnet 29” by William Shakespeare
From All the Sonnets of Shakespeare
“A Love Song for Lucinda” by Langston Hughes
More poems by Langston Hughs, The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
“To The Girl Who Works At Starbucks” by Rudy Francisco
More poetry from Rudy Francisco, I’ll Fly Away
Never Give All the Heart by W B Yeats
More poetry from WB Yeats, The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats: Revised Second Edition
“Witch-Wife” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
More poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay
For more amazing love poems, check out the books listed below. There you can find these and many more poems on the vast topic of love. For those looking for love in long-form writing, sign up for our romance newsletter, where our romance editor shares her top-rated romance novels.
