Editor's note
Ranking is generated by Storgy's classification model, which scores each poem's thematic depth on this subject relative to the rest of the corpus. The list is re-indexed weekly as new poems enter the public-domain corpus.
Best poems about — Storgy
love.
Twenty-five poems, ranked.
25 of the finest public-domain poems about love, ranked by thematic depth. Scored by Storgy's classification model against the rest of the corpus, and re-indexed weekly as new works enter the canon.
The leading three
01
How Do I Love Thee
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“This poem takes the shape of a sonnet, functioning as a love letter where the speaker expresses the depth of her love for someone by detailing the various ways…”
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02
A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns · 1794
“A speaker shares with the person he loves that his feelings are as vibrant and lovely as a blooming rose and as sweet as a well-played melody. He vows that his…”
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03
A Heine Love Song
Eugene Field
“A speaker likens the woman he loves to the moon: steady and radiant, yet reflected as a quivering, restless image within his lovesick heart. The difference betw…”
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The complete index
- 04
A Love Song
D. H. Lawrence
A speaker talks to a lover who isn’t there, confessing that the details of their presence have blurred over time—their voice, their gaze—but seeing apple blossoms illuminated by mo…
- 05
Amo Ergo Sum
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Barbauld's "Amo Ergo Sum" ("I love, therefore I am") turns Descartes' well-known proof of existence on its head — replacing *thinking* with *loving* as the essence that affirms our…
- 06
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe
A man reflects on his childhood love for Annabel Lee, a girl who shared his life in a kingdom by the sea. He attributes her death to the envy of angels. Despite her absence, he bel…
- 07
A Story from Boccaccio
John Keats
This is the opening stanza of Keats's narrative poem "Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil," which retells a tragic love story from Boccaccio's *Decameron*. It introduces Isabel and Lore…
- 08
Astrophil and Stella
Sir Philip Sidney
*Astrophil and Stella* is a collection of 108 sonnets (along with 11 songs) by Sir Philip Sidney, narrating the tale of Astrophil — a lover of the stars — who is infatuated with St…
- 09
A Valentine
James Russell Lowell
A Valentine is a love poem where Lowell distinguishes himself from those still looking for a sweetheart on Valentine's Day — he already has one. He praises the woman he loves, desc…
- 10
By Felix Arvers
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A man harbors a secret love for a woman who never knew he felt that way — he loved her quietly his entire life, without receiving anything back, not even her recognition. The poem…
- 11
By Guido Guinizelli
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This poem suggests that love and a noble heart are inseparable — you can't have one without the other, just like you can't have sunlight without the sun. Longfellow is translating…
- 12
By Simon Dach
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This poem is a love song that honors the connection between a man and his wife, Annie of Tharaw. It conveys that true love isn't shattered by challenges — storms, illness, distance…
- 13
Dark Night of the Soul
John of the Cross
A soul quietly leaves its home under the cover of night to secretly rendezvous with its beloved — God — in a garden, where they experience a profound spiritual union akin to marria…
- 14
I Cannot Live with You
Emily Dickinson
A speaker confesses to someone she loves that they can't be together — not due to a lack of desire, but because her deep love has made it hard to envision ordinary experiences like…
- 15
I Carry Your Heart with Me
E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings crafts a brief yet powerful love poem where the speaker proclaims that they hold their beloved's heart within their own — always, everywhere, and inseparably. The po…
- 16
I Would Live in Your Love
Sara Teasdale
In "I Would Live in Your Love," Sara Teasdale envisions giving herself fully to a lover's affection, portraying a life nurtured and protected by that love, much like a fish exists…
- 17
L'Amant Volage
Sappho
A speaker — likely Sappho herself — observes her beloved, Athis, pulling away to pursue a rival named Andromède. She begins by declaring that love governs the entire world like a r…
- 18
Laus Veneris
Algernon Charles Swinburne
In "Laus Veneris" ("Praise of Venus"), Swinburne reimagines the medieval tale of Tannhäuser, a knight forever ensnared in Venus's underground palace, overwhelmed by a love that's t…
- 19
Love
James Russell Lowell
Lowell's "Love" suggests that true love isn't about drama or flashiness — it's calm, consistent, and designed for daily life. It deepens over time, offers forgiveness for imperfect…
- 20
Love
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley's "Love" poses a straightforward yet daring question: why do people claim that love can't endure in a young heart, when, in reality, love is the one thing that remains time…
- 21
Love Song--Heine
Eugene Field
A speaker shares with a beloved that his sorrow and yearning have blossomed into something lovely: tears turn into flowers, and sighs become the song of a nightingale. He presents…
- 22
Loving in Truth
Sir Philip Sidney
This is the opening sonnet of Sidney's sequence *Astrophil and Stella*, where the speaker confesses his desire to write love poetry to gain his beloved's sympathy, yet struggles to…
- 23
Ode II
Sappho
This is a French translation of Sappho's well-known "Ode to Aphrodite" (or "Phainetai moi"), one of the earliest love poems still around in Western literature. The speaker observes…
- 24
Paolo to Francesca
James Russell Lowell
Paolo looks directly at Francesca and tells her that their single kiss was so perfect it made time, earth, and hell disappear — leaving just heaven. Even now, as they spin together…
- 25
Purgatorio XXX. 13-33, 85-99, XXXI. 13-21
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This is Longfellow's translation of three passages from Dante's *Purgatorio*, capturing the moment when Dante the pilgrim meets Beatrice — the woman he loved in life and who now gu…
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