Yeats once wrote:
"But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”.
The world of literature is filled with romantic love quotes and it is interesting to study the various styles and ways in which poets have expressed their love. The quote mentioned earlier is a typical example of Yeats’s writing style and is often referred to as ‘dark romance’ for its ironic yet poignant style.
Contrary to popular belief, love quotes are not written as quotes and the quote mentioned earlier is an excerpt from Yeats’s poem titled “He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven”.
Romantic poems and love quotes are used in greeting cards, everyday writing and even in motion pictures. Although Yeats has never been considered the most romantic poet born, Lord Byron is well known for his romantic poetry and is the author of popular love quotes like
“She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light which heaven to gaudy day denies”.
Like Yeats, Byron has written poems that are ‘miserable’, but Byron’s writing style is considered far more romantic and there are hundreds of love quotes that can be selected from Byron’s poetry.
P.B. Shelley on the other hand, has a more direct and philosophical approach to love. To quote a love quote from Shelley’s ‘Love's Philosophy’:
“The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle -
Why not I with thine?”
As is apparent, Shelley has a completely different approach to romance and is more ‘direct’. Although the term romantic poetry only emerged in the 18th and 19th century, poets like William Blake, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth and John Keats are believed to be the great romantic British poets of their time. Interestingly, it was Yeats that once wrote that his was the generation of “the last romantics”.
What is equally true about romantic poetry and love quotes is that, each poet is ideally suited for a particular purpose.
Depending on the situation, a person can choose from a variety of poems. For a gentler and less intense love quote Shelley is the ideal poet, whereas for an intense quote Blake is undeniably the best choice. On the other hand, if you are looking for a love quote that can express deep love and true emotion then Yeats is perhaps the best choice. Similarly, Byron’s poetry is filled with love quotes that can compliment a loved one.
If you are looking for love quotes or poems that will help you express your love a look at some of the poets mentioned above is a must.
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