By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
It can be hard trying to find the words to tell a loved one how you feel – passionate, loved-up, longing for their touch, or just head-over-heels happy that they exist. In this post, we’ve compiled five of the best poems for boyfriends, but rather than seeing these narrowly as ‘boyfriend poems’ per se, it might be better to view them as universal love poems which might be especially suited to reading to a boyfriend or a beloved.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) was a remarkable woman: as well as her writing, she is also celebrated for introducing smallpox inoculation to Britain, half a century before Edward Jenner developed vaccination against the disease. ‘A Hymn to the Moon’ is a wonderful short poem about the moon.
Written in July, in an arbour
Thou silver deity of secret night,
Direct my footsteps through the woodland shade;
Thou conscious witness of unknown delight,
The Lover’s guardian, and the Muse’s aid!
By thy pale beams I solitary rove,
To thee my tender grief confide;
Serenely sweet you gild the silent grove,
My friend, my goddess, and my guide.
E’en thee, fair queen, from thy amazing height,
The charms of young Endymion drew;
Veil’d with the mantle of concealing night;
With all thy greatness and thy coldness too.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
There are plenty of clichéd love poems out there which are popular at weddings, but what if two lovebirds want to find something a little more original and honest for their big day? These 11 unsentimental poems are among the best non-clichéd poems in English literature, expressing fine sentiments without being overly sentimental or cheesy.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The association between Valentine’s Day and love is long-standing, and many poets have written about love and romance. But how many have written about the day itself? Are there any classic Valentine’s Day poems? The following top ten list is our pick of some of the best poetic Valentines from over six centuries of English poetry.