| Introductory Essay |
| | The Future of Poetry by John Vance Cheney (1848–1922) |
| |
| I. Admiration |
| | “When in the chronicle of wasted time” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Daybreak by Sir William Davenant (1606–1668) |
| | “Shall I compare thee?” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | The Portrait by Thomas Heywood (c. 1570–1641) |
| | “Give place, ye lovers” by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547) |
| | To His Mistress by Sir Henry Wotton (1568–1639) |
| | “The forward violet thus did I chide” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | “There is a garden in her face”—Anonymous |
| | Olivia by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Portia’s Picture by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Song: “The shape alone let others prize” by Mark Akenside (1721–1770) |
| | Triumph of Charis by Ben Jonson (1572–1637) |
| | Belinda by Alexander Pope (1688–1744) |
| | Hero’s Beauty by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) |
| | “Drink to me only with thine eyes” by Ben Jonson (1572–1637) |
| | “Eros is missing” by Meleager of Gadara (1st Century B.C.) |
| | A Violet in her Hair by Charles Swain (1801–1874) |
| | To Dianeme by Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | Rosalynd by Thomas Lodge (1558–1625) |
| | Disdain Returned by Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?) |
| | To a Lady admiring Herself in a Looking-Glass by Thomas Randolph (1605–1635) |
| | “Phillis is my only joy” by Sir Charles Sedley (1639–1701) |
| | Constancy by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642) |
| | A Vision of Beauty by Ben Jonson (1572–1637) |
| | To the Princess Lucretia by Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) |
| | My Lady by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) |
| | Vision of a Fair Woman by From the Ancient Erse |
| | Spring by Meleager of Gadara (1st Century B.C.) |
| | Song by Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230) |
| | The Girl of Cadiz by Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | “I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden” by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) |
| | A Budget of Paradoxes by John Martley (1844–1882) |
| | Love Dissembled by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Her Likeness by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826–1887) |
| | “She walks in beauty” by Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | “She is not fair to outward view” by Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) |
| | Verses written in an Album by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | To Roses in the Bosom of Castara by William Habington (1605–1654) |
| | To Helen by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) |
| | On a Girdle by Edmund Waller (1606–1687) |
| | The White Rose—Anonymous |
| | Song: “Ask me no more where Jove bestows” by Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?) |
| | “Go, lovely rose” by Edmund Waller (1606–1687) |
| | “Whenas in silks my Julia goes” by Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | “O, do not wanton with those eyes” by Ben Jonson (1572–1637) |
| | Black and Blue Eyes by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | Blue Eyes by John Keats (1795–1821) |
| | “O, saw ye the lass?” by Richard Ryan (1796–1849) |
| | A Health by Edward Coate Pinkney (1802–1828) |
| | My Sweetheart’s Face by John Allan Wyeth (1845–1922) |
| | Her Guitar by Frank Dempster Sherman (1860–1916) |
| | On Some Buttercups by Frank Dempster Sherman (1860–1916) |
| | “O, fairest of rural maids!” by William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) |
| | To a Lady by John James Piatt (1835–1917) |
| | On the Road to Chorrera by Arlo Bates (1850–1918) |
| | The Milking-Maid by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894) |
| | Lovely Mary Donnelly by William Allingham (1824–1889) |
| | The Irish Spinning-Wheel by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846–1931) |
| | The Low-Backed Car by Samuel Lover (1797–1868) |
| | A Gage D’Amour by Austin Dobson (1840–1921) |
| | An Experience and a Moral by Frederick Swartwout Cozzens (1818–1869) |
| | At the Church-Gate by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) |
| |
| II. Love’s Nature |
| | Love by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | “Love is a sickness” by Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) |
| | The Shepherd and the King by Robert Greene (1558–1592) |
| | Love by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) |
| | Love and Woman by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | “Ah, how sweet” by John Dryden (1631–1700) |
| | “Welcome, welcome, do I sing” by William Browne (c. 1590–c. 1645) |
| | Love by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) |
| | Song: “Love still has something” by Sir Charles Sedley (1639–1701) |
| | “If it be true that any beauteous thing” by Michaelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | Sonnet: “Muses, that sing Love’s sensual empirie” by George Chapman (1559?–1634) |
| | Love’s Silence by Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | When Will Love Come? by Pakenham Beatty (1855–1930) |
| | Why? by Mary Louise Ritter |
| | The Annoyer by Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867) |
| | Three Loves by Lucy Hamilton Jones Hooper (1835–1893) |
| | “Love scorns degrees” by Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830–1886) |
| | “Love not me for comely grace”—Anonymous |
| | Light by Francis William Bourdillon (1852–1921) |
| | “O mistress mine” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Philomela’s Ode by Robert Greene (1558–1592) |
| | A Fiction—Anonymous |
| | Wishes for the Supposed Mistress by Richard Crashaw (c. 1613–1649) |
| | A Match by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) |
| | My Choice by William Browne (c. 1590–c. 1645) |
| | A Maiden’s Ideal of a Husband by Henry Carey (1687?–1743) |
| | Rosalynd’s Complaint by Thomas Lodge (1558–1625) |
| | Cupid Swallowed by Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) |
| | “Greene grow the rashes O” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | Perfume by Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928) |
| | Life by Lizzie M. Little (d. 1909) |
| |
| III. Love’s Beginnings |
| | Kate Temple’s Song by Sir James Carnegie, Earl of Southesk (1827–1905) |
| | The First Kiss by Thomas Campbell (1777–1844) |
| | “Tell me, my heart, if this be love” by George, Lord Lyttelton (1709–1773) |
| | Athulf and Ethilda by Sir Henry Taylor (1800–1886) |
| | “Blest as the immortal gods” by Sappho (fl. c. 610–580 B.C.) |
| | “I dreamt I saw great Venus” by Bion of Smyrna (fl. c. 100 B.C.) |
| | Francesca Da Rimini by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) |
| | “Dinna ask me” by John Dunlop (1755–1820) |
| | “O Swallow, Swallow, flying South” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | Song: “It is the miller’s daughter” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | “If doughty deeds my lady please” by Robert Graham of Gartmore (1735–1797) |
| | The Kiss by Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | An Opal by Ednah Proctor Clarke Hayes |
| | Cupid and Campaspe by John Lyly (1555?–1606) |
| | Kisses by William Strode (1602–1645) |
| | Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) |
| | Kissing ’s no Sin—Anonymous |
| | Song of the Milkmaid by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | “Comin’ through the rye” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | “O whistle, and I’ll come to you, my lad” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | Sonnet upon a Stolen Kiss by George Wither (1588–1667) |
| | Caprice by William Dean Howells (1837–1920) |
| | Sly Thoughts by Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) |
| | The Whistle by Robert Story (1795–1860) |
| | “Behave yoursel’ before folk” by Alexander Rodger (1784–1846) |
| | “Smile and never heed me” by Charles Swain (1801–1874) |
| | “The dule ’s i’ this bonnet o’ mine” by Edwin Waugh (1817–1890) |
| | A Spinster’s Stint by Alice Cary (1820–1871) |
| | The Telltale by Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832–1911) |
| | Love in the Valley by George Meredith (1828–1909) |
| | Thoughts on the Commandments by George Augustus Baker (1849–1906) |
| | The Love-Knot by Nora Perry (1831–1896) |
| | The Chess-Board by E. Robert Bulwer, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) (1831–1891) |
| | Her Letter by Bret Harte (1836–1902) |
| | The Plaidie by Charles Sibley |
| | Kitty of Coleraine by Charles Dawson Shanly (1811–1875) |
| | Kitty Neil by John Francis Waller (1810–1894) |
| | The Little Milliner by Robert Buchanan (1841–1901) |
| | Atalanta’s Race by William Morris (1834–1896) |
| |
| IV. Wooing and Winning |
| | The Passionate Shepherd to his Love by Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) |
| | The Nymph’s Reply by Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618) |
| | Golden Eyes by Rufinus |
| | Phillida and Corydon by Nicholas Breton (1545–1626) |
| | The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington—Anonymous |
| | “Where are you going, my pretty maid?”—Anonymous |
| | “My eyes! how I love you” by John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887) |
| | The Brookside by Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | The Little Red Lark by Alfred Perceval Graves (1846–1931) |
| | Love by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) |
| | Somebody—Anonymous |
| | The Exchange by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) |
| | Love’s Logic—Anonymous |
| | The Night-Piece by Robert Herrick (1591–1674) |
| | Sweet Meeting of Desires by Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) |
| | Story of the Gate by Harrison Robertson (1856–1939) |
| | Doris: A Pastoral by Arthur Joseph Munby (1828–1910) |
| | Among the Heather by William Allingham (1824–1889) |
| | Rory O’More by Samuel Lover (1797–1868) |
| | Cooking and Courting—Anonymous |
| | “Ca’ the yowes” by Isabel Pagan (c. 1740–1821) |
| | The Siller Croun by Susanna Blamire (1747–1794) |
| | “Duncan Gray cam’ here to woo” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | How to Ask and Have by Samuel Lover (1797–1868) |
| | Live in my Heart and Pay No Rent by Samuel Lover (1797–1868) |
| | Widow Machree by Samuel Lover (1797–1868) |
| | Widow Malone by Charles Lever (1806–1872) |
| | I’m not Myself at all by Samuel Lover (1797–1868) |
| | “I prithee send me back my heart” by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642) |
| | “Love me little, love me long”—Anonymous |
| | The Courtin’ by James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) |
| | Popping Corn—Anonymous |
| | The Friar of Orders Gray by Thomas Percy (1729–1811) |
| | The Hermit by Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774) |
| | The Laird o’ Cockpen by Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766–1845) |
| | Othello’s Defence by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | The Earl o’ Quarterdeck by George MacDonald (1824–1905) |
| | Aux Italiens by E. Robert Bulwer, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) (1831–1891) |
| |
| V. Cautions and Complaints |
| | “Let not woman e’er complain” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | To Chloe by John Wolcot (Peter Pindar) (1738–1819) |
| | A Woman’s Answer by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864) |
| | Love’s Blindness by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | “Full many a glorious morning” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | “Alexis, here she stayed” by William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649) |
| | Rivalry in Love by William Walsh (1663–1708) |
| | “My dear and only love” by James Graham, Marquis of Montrose (1612–1650) |
| | The Faithful Lovers—Anonymous |
| | The Chronicle by Abraham Cowley (1618–1667) |
| | Constancy—Anonymous |
| | The Age of Wisdom by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) |
| | The Common Doom by James Shirley (1596–1666) |
| | The Author’s Resolution, in a Sonnet by George Wither (1588–1667) |
| | Answer to Master Wither’s Song, “Shall I, Wasting in Despair” by Ben Jonson (1572–1637) |
| | Forever Unconfessed by Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton (1809–1885) |
| | Advice to a Girl by Thomas Campion (1567–1620) |
| | Si Jeunesse Savait! by Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833–1908) |
| | Waiting for the Grapes by William Maginn (1794–1842) |
| | “Give me more love or more disdain” by Thomas Carew (1595?–1639?) |
| | Affaire d’Amour by Margaret Deland (1857–1945) |
| | A Renunciation by Edward Vere, Earl of Oxford (1550–1604) |
| | “Why so pale and wan?” by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642) |
| | A Woman’s Question by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825–1864) |
| |
| VI. Lovers |
| | “Not at all, or all in all” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | “When do I see thee most?” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) |
| | Beauty by Edward Hovell-Thurlow, Lord Thurlow (1781–1829) |
| | Love in the Winds by Richard Hovey (1864–1900) |
| | Kissing Her Hair by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) |
| | “My sweet sweeting”—Anonymous |
| | Lines to an Indian Air by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) |
| | Serenade by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) |
| | First Love by Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | “I saw two clouds at morning” by John Gardiner Calkins Brainard (1795–1828) |
| | My Beautiful Lady by Thomas Woolner (1825–1892) |
| | My Love by Russell Powell Jacoby (1862–1899) |
| | A Christmas Scene by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845) |
| | Bedouin Love-Song by Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) |
| | Zara’s Ear-Rings by John Gibson Lockhart (1794–1854) |
| | Hesperia by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) |
| | “Come into the garden, Maud” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | Lochinvar by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) |
| | “When your beauty appears” by Thomas Parnell (1679–1718) |
| | What my Lover Said by Homer Greene (1853–1940) |
| | Palabras Cariñosas by Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) |
| | Seven times Three by Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) |
| | When the Kye comes Hame by James Hogg (1770–1835) |
| | The Milkmaid’s Song by Sydney Dobell (1824–1874) |
| | Sally in our Alley by Henry Carey (1687?–1743) |
| | On the Road by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) |
| | Ganging to and Ganging frae by Eliza Cook (1818–1889) |
| | The Spinning-Wheel Song by John Francis Waller (1810–1894) |
| | The Welcome by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845) |
| | Fetching Water from the Well—Anonymous |
| | Lady Clare by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | Curfew must Not Ring To-night by Rose Hartwick Thorpe (1850–1939) |
| | The Sleeping Beauty by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | The Eve of St. Agnes by John Keats (1795–1821) |
| | “So sweet love seemed” by Robert Bridges (1844–1930) |
| | Echoes by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | Love’s Young Dream by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| |
| VII. Love’s Power |
| | “The might of one fair face” by Michaelangelo (1475–1564) |
| | “My true-love hath my heart” by Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) |
| | “Were I as base as is the lowly plain” by Joshua Sylvester (1563–1618) |
| | “When stars are in the quiet skies” by Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) |
| | “Come, rest in this bosom” by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | The Gillyflower of Gold by William Morris (1834–1896) |
| | The Landlady’s Daughter by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862) |
| | “Believe me, if all those endearing young charms” by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | “Forget thee?” by John Moultrie (1799–1874) |
| | Renouncement by Alice Meynell (1847–1922) |
| | Love: “Such a starved bank of moss” by Robert Browning (1812–1889) |
| | Last Night by Christian Winther (1796–1876) |
| | Minstrels’ Marriage Song by Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770) |
| | Summer Days by Wathen Marks Wilks Call (1817–1890) |
| | “Fly to the desert, fly with me” by Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | In a Gondola by Robert Browning (1812–1889) |
| | Cleopatra by William Wetmore Story (1819–1895) |
| | Love by Thomas Kibble Hervey (1804–1859) |
| | Last Sonnet by John Keats (1795–1821) |
| | Stanzas by Lord Byron (1788–1824) |
| | The Song of the Camp by Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) |
| | To Fidessa by Bartholomew Griffin (d. 1602) |
| | Meeting at Night by Robert Browning (1812–1889) |
| | Charlie Machree by William J. Hoppin (1813–1895) |
| | Hope Deferred—Anonymous |
| | The Old Maid by George Barlow (1847–1914?) |
| | The Loveliness of Love by George Darley (1795–1846) |
| | To One in Paradise by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) |
| | An Old Sweetheart of Mine by James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) |
| | Rose Aylmer by Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) |
| |
| VIII. Wedded Love |
| | “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | VI. Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand |
| | XIV. If thou must love me, let it be for naught |
| | XVIII. I never gave a lock of hair away |
| | XXI. Say over again, and yet once over again |
| | XXVIII. My letters! all dead paper,… mute and white! |
| | XXXV. If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange |
| | XXXVIII. First time he kissed me, he but only kissed |
| | XXXIX. Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace |
| | XLIII. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways |
| | Sonnets by James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) |
| | I. “My Love, I have no fear that thou shouldst die” |
| | II. “Our love is not a fading, earthly flower” |
| | III. “I thought our love at full, but I did err” |
| | My Love by James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) |
| | Adam Describing Eve by John Milton (1608–1674) |
| | Adam to Eve by John Milton (1608–1674) |
| | Brutus and Portia by William Shakespeare (1564–1616) |
| | Lord Walter’s Wife by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | Paulina’s Appeal by Pierre Corneille (1606–1684) |
| | The Wife of Loki by Lady Charlotte Elliot (d. 1899) |
| | “Like a laverock in the lift” by Jean Ingelow (1820–1897) |
| | “Were I but his own wife” by Ellen Mary Downing (1828–1869) |
| | Two Lovers by George Eliot (Mary Ann Cross) (1819–1880) |
| | In Twos by William Channing Gannett (1840–1923) |
| | Hebrew Wedding by Henry Hart Milman (1791–1868) |
| | The Wedding-Day by Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599) |
| | The Bride by Sir John Suckling (1609–1642) |
| | Song: “The bride she is winsome and bonny” by Joanna Baillie (1762–1851) |
| | The Newly-Wedded by Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839) |
| | The Poet’s Bridal-Day Song by Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) |
| | “Thou hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie” by Allan Cunningham (1784–1842) |
| | Possession by Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) |
| | My Ain Wife by Alexander Laing (1787–1857) |
| | My Wife ’s a Winsome Wee Thing by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | The Poet’s Song to His Wife by Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) (1787–1874) |
| | “The day returns, my bosom burns” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
| | “She was a phantom of delight” by William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | Possession by E. Robert Bulwer, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) (1831–1891) |
| | My Heart is a Lute by Lady Blanche Elizabeth Fitzroy Lindsay (1844–1912) |
| | Reunited Love by Richard Doddridge Blackmore (1825–1900) |
| | A Woman’s Complaint—Anonymous |
| | Love Lightens Labor—Anonymous |
| | Connubial Life by James Thomson (1700–1748) |
| | The Retort by George Pope Morris (1802–1864) |
| | The Eggs and the Horses—Anonymous |
| | Woman’s Will by John Godfrey Saxe (1816–1887) |
| | The Worn Wedding-Ring by William Cox Bennett (1820–1895) |
| | “If thou wert by my side, my love” by Reginald Heber (1783–1826) |
| | “There’s nae luck about the house” by Jean Adam (1704–1765) |
| | Dolcino to Margaret by Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) |
| | “O, lay thy hand in mine, dear!” by Gerald Massey (1828–1907) |
| | Faith and Hope by Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860) |
| | Darby and Joan by Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848–1929) |
| | The Golden Wedding by David Gray (1838–1861) |
| | The Fire of Love by Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset (1638–1706) |
| | “Not ours the vows” by Bernard Barton (1784–1849) |
| | Laodamia by William Wordsworth (1770–1850) |
| | “Till death us part” by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–1881) |
| | The Old Man Dreams by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) |
| | “John Anderson, my jo” by Robert Burns (1759–1796) |
