Write a Love Poem
A sincere, well thought out love poem may be just the ticket to your beloved's heart. All you have to do is to be brave and creative and to be a patient editor and a committed writer. Your love may not shine through on the first draft, but if you're dedicated to writing a love poem as well as you can, then you can be the next Pablo Neruda.
Sample Love Poems
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Steps
Writing Your Own Love Poem
- Be brave. Don't go halfway on telling this person how you feel - be prepared to let yourself be vulnerable. Always tell the truth, for your poem will be more genuine if you don't hold back.
- Brainstorm. As fast as you can, write out how you feel about this person, what happened the first time you saw him or her, when you fell in love, how you feel about the future, and whatever else comes to mind. Anything that you love for that specific person, and just keep thinking and writing. Don't stop to analyze or critique what you've written - just keep going. Write out a page or two, so you have plenty of material to use in your poem.
- Use parts of your relationship to structure the poem. If you're struggling to come up with a format or ideas, try this. Section a piece of paper into three parts: How We Met, How I Know I Love You, and What I Want for Us in the Future. Fill in as much as you can about these topics. Later on, use them to structure your poem - that is, the first part will be about how you met, and so on.
- Pull out the ideas you like. Look over your brainstorming and identify any phrases, words or thoughts that stand out to you. Collect these on a separate page, and put them in an order that makes sense. Play with your fragments by combining them into sentences and joining up similar thoughts, until you have a coherent prose paragraph.
- Make your writing stronger. Now that you have a draft to work with, try a few of these tweaks to make your words seem more urgent and vivid:
- Remove adverbs. Adverbs ("very" and words that end in "-ly") weaken your writing, because they're shortcuts that jam verbs (action words) and adjectives (descriptors) together. Instead of saying "You're very pretty" try "You're gorgeous;" instead of "I really love you," try "I adore you." And so on.
- Avoid "purple prose". Prose turns metaphorically purple when it's too flowery or sentimental. (For a good literary example, see Edgar Allen Poe's love poems.) Some people love purple prose; others find it off-putting and a sure sign of bad writing and phony emotions. You can avoid it by not stringing too many adjectives together (for instance, don't harp on your beloved's "beautiful, pearly, brilliant smile" - instead, note her "radiant smile"), and resist the urge to make all of your words bigger with the help of a thesaurus. Remember the old adage: "Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent one will do."
- Steer clear of cliches. A cliché is a phrase that's overused, even though it might describe something in a way that makes sense. Some examples are "I love you more than life itself" or "I fell head over heels for him." If your paragraph contains a phrase that you've heard a lot of other people use, try to reword it in a genuine way. Don't make it cheesy or boring. Try making it meaningful and beautiful.
- Use sensory descriptors. Make your writing more immediate by including sensory detail that will make the reader feel like he or she is experiencing the event again. For example, instead of saying "Your hair smelled amazing," say "Your hair smelled like citrus and vanilla."
- Choose a metaphor (optional). If you feel up to it, you can try to find a compelling metaphor for how you feel about this person. A metaphor can help you express your feelings in a unique and fresh way, and make your love poem extra individualized. For examples, see Shakespeare's sonnets or some of Emily Dickinson's poetry.
- Read your work aloud. As you do that, try these things:
- Listen for anything that sounds "off" and make a note of it. Come back later and rework it so that you're satisfied.
- Notice where you naturally pause as you read. Every time you pause for longer than a half-second, make a small note between the words (such as a star or tick mark).
- Rewrite the paragraph, placing line breaks wherever you paused. Every time you made a mark for pausing, move to a new line. Your poem might not rhyme, but remember that not all poems must rhyme - in fact, non-rhyming poems can sometimes be more moving.
- Keep editing the poem until you're satisfied. You can edit your poem endlessly if you want to, but you'll have to stop at some point if you want to give it to the person you love. Keep working with it until you're satisfied that it expresses your true feelings.
- Refine the presentation (optional). For an extra romantic touch, type out the poem in a nice font, or use your best handwriting to put it on a quality piece of paper. Tie it with a ribbon or put it in a special envelope, or even have it framed. Try to do something romantic, but not too showy. Paying a little extra attention to presentation turns your poem into a treasured memento.
Tips
- Some people are more poetic than others when it comes to expressing emotions, so don't give yourself a report card. Your poem doesn't need to be perfect — it just needs to be yours.
- The best writing advice is simple: omit needless words. One strong verb steamrolls any three weak ones.
- So many people try so hard that they forget to tell their lover "I love you..." It is extremely important that you mention that. Because, isn't that the whole reason why you wrote the poem?
- Read poems for ideas but do not copy them. It will get you nowhere, and your loved one may find out.
- Experiment with different rhyme schemes. Every word does not have to rhyme in the traditional way but can just have a similar sound.
- Love poems come in all lengths, but be careful not to babble.
- It's fine to quote an existing poem. Just include the original author's name and say something like, "I thought of you when I read this."
- Avoid phrases that are overused such as you would find on a familiar hit song.
- You don't have to stick to the night you met. Try other powerful moments, for example the evening you two walked together just before the birth of your first child, the time you two got caught in the rain, clutching his/her hand on the roller coaster, etc.
- Golden Rule: If you are sincere, your partner will love it. Guaranteed.
- Try not to over use personal pronouns, such as "I","You","Me", etc.
- If you want to rhyme, there are great rhyming dictionaries on the internet. Try to stay away from one syllable words and try making every other line rhyme.
- Recognize that this is only one way of writing a poem. Do an online search for "love poem" to find a million others. The issue here is not how good a poem it is, it's how much emotion it evokes in your partner.
- One useful tip for any kind of poem is to "write it twice: first with the heart, then with your brain". Express your feelings without sounding corny.
- Discussing explicit sexual acts in your poem is a bit tacky, and might be off-putting to the recipient. Avoid it.
- Don't force rhymes for love poems. If you let the emotion flow like a river, it will cut its own beautiful path.
- The sonnet may be the best format for a love poem. Don't cheat on the syllable rule either - it will ruin the rhythm. Look to Shakespeare for help.
- Make it personal. If your love is named Kim or Vern try to use it. Your poem should be a reflection of the love you both share.
- A poem that can be written in prose isn't a poem, so don't follow the method of writing a huge block of prose, cleaning it up, and then cutting it arbitrarily into lines. Learn to write real poetry in meter--that will show your lover real dedication and effort.
- There's no need to be intimidated by rhyme schemes. Remember, poetry doesn't have to rhyme. Former Poets Laureate Robert Pinsky, Louise Gluck, Billy Collins and Ted Kooser all write poetry that does not rhyme.
- Poetry and almost all artful prose is about how the words reveal your feelings. Read your writings aloud to yourself to feel what your words are saying. If they stir emotion in you, they will for the person you love.
