5 Valentine's Day Poems That Prove Love Is Real

Roses Are red, Violets Are Purple... Wait, What? That's Not How It Goes...

As a professional single person, I’ve only read about true love through fairytales and poetry. As such, here’s a curated a list of romantic poems to read to your significant other on Valentine’s Day. May they brighten your day as much as they’ve illustrated how lonely I am.

Full disclosure—men write the best romance poetry—so there’s really only one poem in this collection which women could read to her significant other. But, I believe Valentine’s Day is a holiday best celebrated by men for women anyway, so send this list to your man so he can read these to you instead.

1. Love's Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river
   And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
   With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
   All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
   Why not I with thine?—

See the mountains kiss high heaven
   And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
   If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
   And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
   If thou kiss not me?

In this poem Shelley expertly captures the emotions of passion through natural imagery. The strongest argument he makes for wooing his love is in line five when he states, “Nothing in the world is single; / All things by a law divine” and he lists natural phenomena to prove his case.

Here’s a riddle for you: If God has ordained men and women should be together— why am I alone?

2. She Walks in Beauty - Lord Byron (George Gordon)

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

I encountered Lord Byron before I started reading poetry for the sake of reading poetry. I mean, who hasn’t? He’s the top boss of romantic poetry. There’s a reason for this; Lord Byron was a notorious ladies’ man. Because of this fact, I vowed to never like his poetry as I’m a girl’s girl and a girl’s girl would never support a two-timing philandering ogre like Lord Byron.

Then I actually read this poem. And now I get it.

If a man ever actually said those words to me I would fall too.

Sorry girls, I tried.

3. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love - Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of Roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.

This poem is THE pastoral poem. It depicts a shepherd trying to convince his sweetheart to marry him as he romanticizes his occupation. Attempting to win her over by making a “bed of roses” and “a gown of the finest wool” the shepherd never receives a reply from his sweetheart.

What do you think? Would you marry a Shepherd if you were promised a bed of roses and wool for pretty dresses?

4. To My Dear and Loving Husband - Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
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 was the first published American poet and she wrote mostly about her puritan lifestyle. In this poem she clearly adores her husband, telling women to “compare with me…if you can.”

THIS. This is what a healthy marriage looks like.

5. Stanzas For Music - Lord Byron

There be none of Beauty's daughters
With a magic like thee;
And like music on the waters
Is thy sweet voice to me:
When, as if its sound were causing
The charmed ocean's pausing,
The waves lie still and gleaming,
And the lull'd winds seem dreaming:

And the midnight moon is weaving
Her bright chain o'er the deep;
Whose breast is gently heaving,
As an infant's asleep:
So the spirit bows before thee,
To listen and adore thee;
With a full but soft emotion,
Like the swell of Summer's ocean.

Which poem will you be reading to your love this Valentine’s Day?