Love Poems

by Sheila Kohler, Peter Washington

A gorgeously jacketed hardcover anthology of passionate love poems from around the world and through the ages.

It has often been said that love, both sacred and profane, is the only true subject of the lyric poem. Nothing better justifies this claim than the splendid poems in this volume, which range from the writings of ancient China to those of modern-day America and represent, at its most piercing, a universal experience of the human soul.

This collection includes poems by John Donne, Christina Rossetti, W. H. Auden, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Graves, e. e. cummings, Dorothy Parker, William Shakespeare, Sappho, Bhartrhari, Anna Akhmatova, and W. B. Yeats, among many others."

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Romance, Anthologies, Love, Adult, Literature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Sheila Kohler was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the younger of two girls. Upon matriculation at 17 from Saint Andrews, with a distinction in history (1958), she left the country for Europe. She lived for 15 years in Paris, where she married, did her undergraduate degree in literature at the Sorbonne, and a graduate degree in psychology at the Institut Catholique. After raising her three girls, she moved to the USA in 1981, and did an MFA in writing at Columbia.

In the summer of 1987, her first published story, “The Mountain,” came out in “The Quarterly” and received an O’Henry prize and was published in the O’Henry Prize Stories of 1988. It also became the first chapter in her first novel, "The Perfect Place," which was published by Knopf the next year.

Reviews

[Loretta]

My love of poetry started the first time I read Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

This is a very lovely edition of “love” poems. Poetry lovers should check it out! 🥰

[Andy]

Beautifully curated. I might have wished for a Burns poem instead of so many Graves, but that is my only complaint

[David]

A lovely collection. Though, as with any and all collections, what stands out in my mind is not what was included, but was notably excluded: "If You Forget Me" by Neruda, many of Edna St. Vincent Millay's later sonnets, some Sapphic fragments, W.H. Auden's "The More Loving One" (a personal favorite), Szymborska's "First Love," the heartbreak of Anne Sexton's "For My Lover, Returning to His Wife" - and many others. But I was happy to discover in this collection some new poems and poets of which I'd never head of, or long forgotten: Pierre de Ronsard (and old favorite), Louis Untermeyer, some of the under-appreciated poems of James Joyce, Edward Thomas's "No One So Much As You." The partitioning of the book into various stages of love seemed a good idea, but perhaps haphazard; while some categorization is nice in a collection like this, it seemed that many poems could have fallen into a number of those descriptions - thus is poetry!

[Jaclyn]

I’ve discovered a love for Christina Rossetti.

[Paola]

SHE WHO IS ALWAYS IN MY THOUGHTS
"She who is always in my thoughts prefers
Another man, and does not think of me.
Yet he seeks for another's love, not hers;
And some poor girl is grieving for my sake.
Why the, the devil take
Both her and him; and love; and her; and me" (pg.189)

[Angela]

It hurts, it squeezes, it sighs, it pleases. Oh love...

[Perina-Kate Woods]

this is a really cute anthology.

[Novelle Novels]

Some of these poems were really good but I’m not great with poetry unfortunately.

[camilo]

Too much graves, not enough rossetti, and an actual soul shattering dearth of rumi ☹️💔

[David M. M.]

There was a tremendous variety of sources here, and it covered a wide variety of loves. I myself wouldn't have included some of these, but in some cases that would be a mistake. Very pleased to read this.

[Tyler]

Peter Washington leans too heavily on the poets whom he’s clearly read—Robert Graves, AC Swinburne, Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, etc. None of these are pre-eminent love poets by any degree, and all of them are hardly to be considered total masters, whether in translation or otherwise. It’s a real pity that this volume doesn’t open itself up to more work from the Romantics—or even from 20th century authors like Bishop and Merrill.

[Sade]

love is such a wonderful thing, and what better way to express it than through a wonderfully curated poetry collection. i enjoyed this book immensely

[Sarah Dunmire]

I was disappointed with this collection. I would think that love is probably the most prevalent theme in all poetry, and I didn’t think these poems were the best of them. A lot of repeat poets, mostly men. I have many of the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets editions, and this one wasn’t great. I did discover that I like Christina Rossetti’s poetry.

Here were the poems I did like (16 out of 163):
Love Is Not by Marcus Argentarius
Let Me Not by William Shakespeare
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron
I Loved You by Alexander Pushkin
Ah, You Thought by Anna Akhmatova
One Perfect Rose by Dorothy Parker
I, Through All Chances by Paulinus of Nola
Many in Aftertimes by Christina Rossetti
I Loved You First by Christina Rossetti
Nevermore by Paul Verlaine
I Wish I Could Remember by Christina Rossetti
Farewell! Thou Art Too Dear by William Shakespeare
Remember by Christina Rossetti
Music by Percy Bysshe Shelley
What Lips My Lips Have Kissed by Edna St Vincent Millay

[Morgan Kail-Ackerman]

Best poems

Symptoms of Love by Robert Graves
In Love for Long by Edwin Muir
Corinna in Vendome by Pierre De Ronsard
My Downfall by Dioskorides
Tonight I Can Write by Pablo Neruda
Not Marble by Shakespeare
My Mistress’ Eye by Shakespeare
Willow by Li Shang-Yin
The Rival by Sylvia Plath
To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe
Sonnet for Helen by Pierre de Ronsard
The Sun Rising by John Donne
Came to Me by Rudaki
Green by DH Lawrence
The River-Merchants Wife by Li Po
Many In Aftertimes by Christina Rossetti
Problems of Gender by Robert Graves
She who is always in my thoughts by Bhartrhari
Friday night by Robert Graves
To the beloved by Anna Akhmatova
Nevermore by Paul Verlaine
Somewhere or other by Christina Rossetti
I wish I could remember by Christina Rossetti
Villanelle by William Empson
Lost Love by Robert Graves

[Marianne]

4 stars!

Love poems are my favorite type of poems to read and this collection did not disappoint. I appreciated how this book was categorized into different themes that all relate to love. My favorites were fidelity and inconstancy and love past. There were quite a lot that resonated with me and hit me in the heart however, there was a handful of poems that I particularly didn't care for, not to mention that some were a bit repetitive. I'll be definitely be on the look out for some poets like Christina Rossetti, whom until reading this book I have never heard of.
Overall, this was an excellent collection and I'm looking forward to being introduced to more new poets. I will definitely be on the lookout for more Everyman's Library Pocket Poets.

[Cep Subhan KM]

Could you answer the question "what is love?"? I couldn't and i think that is the reason why this book is published. Love is not something to be defined, it is something to be felt. Reading this book means "feel" the story about love from Catullus time to Boris Pasternak's in the form of poem, not to define love in the end but to understand better...

The book is designed to be a little luxury book: it is little enough to be brought anywhere, it is a hardback with the painting of Cupid in its front cover. Surely this book is part of the Everyman's Library Pocket Poets and i always like to read the epigraph available in all Everyman's books: Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide, in the most need to go by thy side.

[Troy Farlow]

It’s a two but it’s my beloved Everyman’s, so a three :-). There are gems in here - actually, more just eye-openers to me to poets I’d never heard of with good material - but over all, any book titled LOVE poems should have easily knocked this outta the park. It was a let down holistically. And too many Robert Grave poems - for heavens sake, never again. Yeah, this book was solid, but still a let down.

[Nelson]

It was a pretty good collection. The editor admits in the preface that it is very Euro-centric, but it still had a good variety of length, type, prose, et cetera. There were definitely poems added from outside of the West, but it was more of a 90/10 split and gave the impression of lacking balance. However, I still found many new favorites and the way it was organized was very ergonomic. Would recommend, as long as this is kept in mind.

[Sean]

What stood out to me:
"For an Amorous Lady," Theodore Roethke
"Lullaby," W. H. Auden: "Noons of dryness see you fed/ By the involuntary powers"
"The River-Merchant's Wife," Li Po
"Problems of Gender," Robert Graves
"Friday Night," Robert Graves
"Talking in Bed," Philip Larkin
"White Heliotrope," Arthur Symons

So there.

[Garrett Haynes]

A decent selection of love poetry from various eras. One plus I have to give for this book is they even select poetry from Asia and Latin America, so it’s more diverse, not just your typical western writers.

[Jenna]

This is a nice little anthology, but notably missing some of the pre-eminent love poets, and maybe a bit heavy on the Graves.

I thought splitting the poetry into themes was quite a nice, novel idea though.

[Caitlin]

Poems about love, current, past, and lost. A good bit of Shakespeare, and a few funny ones.

[Leia]

I really enjoyed some of the poems in this collection, but the vast majority I didn't really like. I usually really love Everyman's Pocket Poets but this one wasn't the best in my opinion.

[Kleineleopardin]

4.5 stars!

[Rishi]

Main takeaway: God, Anna Akhmatova can write.

[Akhtar Mirza]

It is good as it is but why Urdu or Punjabi poets were not included?

[jo]

lovely but also wayyy too much robert graves

[lamb glass]

Appreciate the inclusion of love past for there is no love without grief etc etc

[Atina Bregvadze]

Didn’t really like the collection. This book had a better potential

[Alan]

Some beautiful poems in here but some duds as well