Love Letters through the Ages

Image courtesy of Death To Stock

With the advent of email and text messaging, expressions of love have become instant, short, and shy. But once upon a time, when distance was the norm, people composed billet doux – love letters filled with longing, anxiety, and absolute intoxication. Perhaps distance made the heart grow fonder. 

To give a direct glimpse into the expressions of passion penned across the ages, we’ve collected snippets from love letters in various categories. From invitation to separation, join us as we dance through letters of affection penned long ago. 

Invitation

“Carry me off into the blue skies of tender loves, roll me in dark clouds, trample me with your thunderstorms, break me in your angry rages. But love me, my adored lover.” ~Sarah Bernhardt to Jean Richepin in 1883. 

“A letter does not blush.” ~Marcus Tullius Cicero to an unknown recipient. 106-43 BC

“I beseech you now with all my heart definitely to let me know your whole mind as to the love between us.” ~King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn in 1528. Anne at first refused his advances, and King Henry tried to annul his previous marriage. After a seven-year courtship, the two married. Three years later, the King accused Anne of treason and had her beheaded. She was the second of his six wives.

Adoration

“Oh, Bogey, what it is to love like this!” ~Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Murry January 27, 1918.  

“I am lost in love’s labyrinth.” ~Philip Stanhope to Lady Russell, 1661. 

“I kiss you – I paint love pictures to you” ~D.H. Lawrence, English writer, to Louise Burrows during a brief engagement, March 3rd, 1911.

Obsession

“My darling, dear, delightful Ringo, could you please send me something of yours? Anything, a lock of hair, a thread from your coat, a smoked cigarette, a button from your shirt, a piece of old toast, or a bristle from your toothbrush. I would treasure it forever.” A fan of Ringo Starr from the Beatles. 

“I can neither Eat nor Sleep for thinking of You my dearest love, I never touch even pudding.” Horatio Nelson to Lady Emma Hamilton, January 29, 1800. 

“My love has made me selfish. I cannot exist without you. I am forgetful of every thing but seeing you again.” ~John Keats, English poet, to Fanny Brawne, October 13, 1819. The two shared a passionate romance until Keats moved away and died of tuberculosis five months later. Fanny suffered six years of mourning before remarrying. She survived Keats by more than 40 years. 

Separation

“My mind without you is dead & cold as…the dark midnight river when the moon is down.” Percy Bysshe Shelley to Mary Godwin, future author of Frankenstein, on October 28, 1814. 

“What I do know is that I can’t picture any sort of life without you.” ~Arthur Evelyn Waugh to Laura Herbert, August 5, 1936.

“I am miserable because I know you will be so; I am wretched at the idea of flying so far from you, without a single hour’s interview, to tell you all my pains and all my love.” ~Alexander Hamilton to his wife, August 1781

Sources & Further Reading

• Lovric, Michelle. 1994. “Love Letters: An Anthology of Passion.” New York: Shooting Star Press Inc.

• Washington, Peter; various authors. 1996. "Love Letters." New York: Alfred. A Knopf.

• Wikipedia contributors, "John Keats," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Keats&oldid=1336953165 (accessed February 8, 2026).