Romance Poems

When many people hear the phrase, romantic poems, they automatically think about modern day romance. Some may even think of the idea of romantic poetry beginning with the Romantic Era. However, the two are not even remotely connected. Romanticism, or what is sometimes referred to as the Romantic Era in art, literature, and intellectual thought, was a movement which had its beginnings in Europe near the latter part of the 18th century. Much of the energy behind the movement was its reaction to such things as the Industrial Revolution, certain political values established during the Age of Enlightenment, and a genuine revulsion regarding the use of science to explain nature. It was largely defined as involving the expression of intense, deep and frequently uplifting feeling and emotions. It also included having involved and thoughtful relationships with nature in a rather spiritual sense. But all of this talk about expressing emotions had nothing to do with love and romance between two people. It just wasn’t the same thing. An example of this is found in the following verses.

The Song Of Wandering Aengus
by William Butler Yeats

Now for those who thought this article was going to be about poems of love and romance, well here’s you’ve been wanting to see. Such poems have probably been around as long as man first put ink to paper. Such religious writings, which are ascribed to the very early history of man, include the Song of Solomon from the Hebrew scripture and the Christian Old Testament. There is no doubt about the topic of the writings. Much later, of course, are the fanciful works of such noted writers as William Shakespeare. The noted English poet found great pleasure in writing about romantic themes, both in poetry and prose. Here is just a small sample of the romantic expressions of this great writer.

O Mistress Mine
by William Shakespeare

Of course there are many other renowned poets who produced hundreds of thousands of lines of poetry on the topic of romance. Essentially every culture in the world has some evidence of such writings. From across Europe and deep into the great northern cities of Asia, and down into the mountains of China, Mongolia and Tibet. Just a little further is the vast region known as India. It is in this last location that we find an extensive array of poetry with a romantic focus. While some may immediately assume this discussion is turning explicit, this is not at all about the famed KamaSutra, but about men and woman who are extremely passionate and sincere in their writings about romance. In fact, one of the poets who had a significant impact on poetry across the world was also the very first non-European writer to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. Rabindranath Tagore wrote poetry when he was just a young boy of eight and began his career as a published poet by the time he was sixteen. Here is an example of his romantic poetry.

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by Rabindranath Tagore