This Friday, we celebrate
Valentine’s Day, and that makes me think about love poems. Mind you, love poems
are among the hardest to write because the pitfalls of clichés, triteness, and
sentimentality are ever present, not to mention the fact that pouring intense
emotion into written language can present some interesting challenges.
These days, it seems that love
poems occupy a place somewhere between hot fudge sundaes and oatmeal. Poets of
the past often wrote love poems and there are hundreds for us to read, but
there’s not much contemporary interest in moonbeams through willows and the “archaic”
romantic meanderings of yesterdays poetic styles.
So, what does make a love poem special by today’s standards? What makes a
love poem unique? What gives a love poem the power to touch readers? What makes
a love poem more than personal? What makes a love poem universally meaningful?
How do modern love poems affirm without sentimentality? One of the best ways to
consider these questions is to read numerous examples of contemporary love
poems.
Guidelines:
1. Write a poem to someone you
love.
2. Write a poem to someone who
loves you.
3. Write a poem to a beloved pet.
4. Write a love poem to an
inanimate object. (You might try for humor with this one, maybe a limerick.)
5. Write a poem about unrequited
love.
6. Write a poem to or about your
first love.
7. Write a poem about an unhappy romance.
8. Write a poem about platonic
love.
9. Write a love poem to nature or
a particular aspect of the natural world (perhaps an ode).
10. Write a poem based on this
quotation from Pablo Neruda: “Let us forget with generosity those who cannot
love us.”
11. Write a poem in which you
examine how falling in love creates a new and surprising sense of mortality and
fear of death.
13. Write a parody of Elizabeth
Barrett Browning’s famous “How Do I Love Thee?” (Sonnet 43).
How do I love thee? Let me count
the ways.
I love thee to the depth and
breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling
out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal
grace.
I love thee to the level of every
day's
Most quiet need, by sun and
candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive
for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn
from praise.
I love thee with the passion put
to use
In my old griefs, and with my
childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed
to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee
with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life;
and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better
after death.
Tips:
1. The sonnet form is often
associated with love poems. Try writing your poem in sonnet form. Work on the
form in your early drafts and don’t worry if you decide to scrap it.
2. Write a ghazal (originally an
Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love). To learn about ghazal
form, try the following links:
3. Work your thoughts through
imagery and be sure that you show and not
tell about the love in your poem. Images should be crisp and original.
4. Watch out for clichés and “saccharine”
expressions, and steer clear of sentimentality. It’s easy to fall into such
things when writing love poems. Dare to be different, mysterious, distinctive …
5. If your subject matter is
romantic love, try to create an intensity of feeling without using words like
beautiful and love. Work toward a subtle sensuality without saying anything
overt.
6. Try beginning your love poem
with a subordinating conjunction as a way of attracting reader interest and a
way of drawing readers into your poem. “Because I loved from a distance …” “Because
he/she would never know …” “Because my reason for leaving was never told …”
(Remember Emily Dickinson’s “Because
I could not stop for Death/he kindly stopped for me.”)
7. Although the feelings you
write about will be personal, work on making your poem universally meaningful.
Examples:
To All of You from Chaucey and Me
P.S. Click here to hear the Beatles song from which this prompt's title comes ("All You Need I Love").
