Love Poems

Here are two famous love poems and a song. I wrote a personal response to each of them. They are not depressing like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," since they are about pure love. I hope that you enjoy reading these poems!

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breadth,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Personal Response:
When you're in love, that feeling seems to be ineffable; no words seem to be able to capture that emotion correctly. However, this poem describes exactly how one feels when he or she is in love. When you are in love, you feel like you are going to explode because your love is so wide and far-reaching. You need and want your lover, without whom you could never live! While reading this poem, I was really able to feel the degree of passion and devotion the persona has for the one he or she loves.

I Carry Your Heart With Me
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 you 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 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 the 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)

Personal Response:
Like other poems written by E. E. Cummings, famous for his poems' unusal style, this poem also has a unique structure. The persona first states something simple, and then in parentheses, he elaborates on that statement. For example, he says "i fear no fate." Why does he fear no fate? He explains the reason in the parentheses--"for you are my fate, my sweet." When I was reading the poem, I felt like the words written inside the parentheses sounded like he was whispering them to his lover, whereas the rest were said out loud. This made the poem seem more romantic and also witty.

The Rose

written by Amanda McBroom

sung by Bette Mildler

Some say love, it is a river

That drowns the tender reed.

Some say love, it is a razor

That leaves your soul to bleed.

Some say love, it is a hunger

An endless aching need.

I say love, it is a flower

And you, its only seed.

It's the heart afraid of breaking

That never learns to dance.

It's the dream afraid of waking

That never takes the chance.

It's the one who won't be taken

Who cannot seem to give.

And the soul afraid of dying

That never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely,

And the road has been too long,

And you think that love is only

For the lucky and the strong.

Just remember, in the winter,

Far beneath the bitter snows,

Lies the seed, that with the sun's love,

In the spring, becomes the rose.

Personal Response:

This is not a poem, but I believe it could be. As we learned in the first day of class, the boundaries of what is literature and what is not have been broadened. In a way, this song could be considered a work of literature, and personally, I believe it is. So here in my response, I will discuss it as if it is a poem.

This poem gives strength to those who do not have the courage to fall in love. In the first stanza, the persona describes what people think love is. Everybody else considers love as something painful, like a razor or a hunger. However, the persona says that she thinks love is a flower, something beautiful rather than agonizing. Some might call her naive, but I think she is optimistic and also brave to believe in love.

In the second stanza, the persona addresses all the people who are reluctant to take chances. She says that if you do not take risks because you are afraid, you will gain nothing. I really like the last phrase "And the soul afraid of dying/ That never learns to live." Like the persona says, we should not let the fear of rejection stop us from falling in love.

In the last stanza, she says that when you are going through some kind of difficulty and feel lonely and deserted, remember that there is a "seed" inside you that will become a rose in spring. She tells us that love is not only for the lucky or the strong but also for any ordinary individuals. All we need to do is open our minds and let it in. I always thought that I would never fall in love, but reading this poem gave me courage because it reminded me that like everyone else, I also have a "seed" inside me that will bloom some day. I just wish that day will come soon :)