Famous Love Poetry has some of the most famed love poetry written.

Anne Finch, Thomas Ford, Stephen Foster and Edgar Allan Poe contribute more examples of Famous Love poetry on this page.

To a Husband

by Anne Finch (1620-1720)

This is to the crown and blessing of my life,

The much loved husband of a happy wife;

To him whose constant passion found the art

To win a stubborn and ungrateful heart,

And to the world by tenderest proof discovers

They err, who say that husbands can't be lovers.

With such return of passion, as is due,

Daphnis I love, Daphinis my thoughts pursue;

Daphnis, my hopes and joys are bounded all in you.

Even I, for Daphnis' and my promise' sake,

What I in woman censure, undertake.

But this from love, not vanity proceeds;

You know who writes, and I who 'tis that reads.

Judge not my passion by my want of skill:

Many love well, though they express it ill;

And I your censure could with pleasure bear,

Would you but soon return, and speak it here.

Here is yet another famous love poetry, this time from Tom Ford:

There Is a Lady Sweet and Kind

by Thomas Ford

There is a lady sweet and kind,

Was never a face so pleased my mind;

I did but see her passing by,

And yet I'll love her till I die.

Her gesture, motion, and her smiles,

Her wit, her voice my heart beguiles,

Beguiles my heart, I know not why,

And yet I'll love her till I die.

Cupid is winged and he doth range,

Her country, so, my love doth change:

But change she earth, or change she sky,

Yet, I will love her till I die.

The next famous love poetry is a rather curious one. Its writer, Stephen Foster 1826-1864 was born in Pittsburgh U.S.A. He became the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of his era. Many of his songs, such as "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races" and "Beautiful Dreamer," are still popular over 150 years after their composition.

Among his first hit songs, was "Oh! Susanna," which was to serve as the anthem of the California gold rush in 1848/9. It earns its inclusion here, more for its fame than its conformity to our overiding theme. But as an example of famous love poetry, it still passes muster.

Oh! Susanna

by Stephen Foster

I came from Alabama

wid my ban jo on my knee,

I'm g'wan to Louisiana,

My true love for to see,

It raind all night the day I left

The weather it was dry,

The sun so hot I frose to death

Susanna dont you cry.

[Chorus] Oh! Susanna Oh! dont you cry for me

I've come from Alabama wid mi ban jo on my knee.

[Solo] I jumped aboard de telegraph,

And trabbelled down de riber,

De Lectric fluid magnified,

And Killed five Hundred Nigger

De bullgine buste, de horse run off,

I realy thought I'd die;

I shut my eyes to hold my breath,

Susana, dont you cry.

[Chorus] Oh! Susana Oh! dont you cry for me

I've come from Alabama wid mi ban jo on my knee.

[Solo] I had a dream de odder night,

When ebery ting was still;

I thought I saw Susana,

A coming down de hill.

The buckwheat cake war in her mouth,

The tear was in her eye,

Says I, im coming from de South,

Susana, dont you cry.

[Chorus] Oh! Susana Oh! dont you cry for me

I've come from Alabama wid mi ban jo on my knee.

[Solo] I soon will be in New Orleans,

And den I'll look all round,

And when I find Susana,

I'll fall upon the ground.

But if I do not find her,

Dis darkie 'l surely die,

And when I'm dead and buried,

Susana, dont you cry.

[Chorus] Oh! Susana Oh! dont you cry for me

I've come from Alabama wid mi ban jo on my knee.

Stephen Foster's style was an amalgam. Juxtaposing the politically incorrect ministrel show tradition that humourously denigrated and irreverently patronised black people (so-called coon music), with a little formal musical training. The result sadly, was hugely popular and it acquired some degree of fame.

I expect my decision to include "Oh! Susanna" as an example of Famous Love Poetry, to be considered doubtful by many, and even disputable. It has undeniable merit though, as an illustration of the diversity of my site, Love Poetry of The World.

Edgar Allan Poe was a most famous American Poet. His famous lines, "To The glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome" are contained in this fine example of Famous Love Poetry:

by Edgar Allan Poe

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicean barks of yore,

That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,

The weary, wayworn wanderer bore

To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

To the glory that was Greece

And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche

How statue-like I see thee stand,

The agate lamp within thy hand!

Ah, Psyche, from the regions which

Are Holy Land!

The end, fittingly to this section of examples of famous love poetry

Examples 3

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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