20 Most Romantic Love Letters in History

Love letters from luminaries like Beethoven, Napoleon, Virginia Woolf show deep passion and devotion. Their words are full of longing, admiration and timeless romance, inspiring lovers for generations. Handwritten letters continue to be a strong medium to express love beyond transient digital messages.

1. Napoleon Bonaparte to Joséphine de Beauharnais

François Gérard on Wikimedia Commons

Who would have thought that the fierce military leader could be so hopelessly devoted? In his letters, Napoleon revealed his unbearable longing, declaring, “I have passed no day without loving you.” His passion, tinged with jealousy and obsession, gave these letters an intensity to match his seductions.

2. Ludwig van Beethoven to His “Immortal Beloved”

Joseph Karl Stieler on Wikimedia Commons

The world still wonders who Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved” was, but the man’s words echoed through time. He wrote, “Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours.” And the mystery, coupled with his profound and lyrical devotion, transformed this letter into an everlasting expression of love.

3. Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas

Napoleon Sarony on Wikimedia Commons

The master of wit and wordplay could be romantic as Oscar Wilde wrote to his beloved “Bosie.” You are the divine thing I want, you the thing of grace and genius,” he confessed, pouring his soul into all that he wrote. Wilde’s letters reflected the joy and heartbreak of forbidden love.

4. John Keats to Fanny Brawne

William Hilton on Wikimedia Commons

Keats, the poet of love and desire, had written aching lines in praise of Fanny. “I cannot live without you — I am forgetting everything but the sight of you again,” he wrote. His letters were poetic, full of a kind of painful devotion.

5. Emily Dickinson to Susan Gilbert

MagentaGreen on Wikimedia Commons

Poetry has found love and comfort. The letters Emily Dickinson sent to her closest confidante, Susan mentioned, “I miss you, grieve for you, and walk the streets alone — often at night.” Dickinson’s words were tender and almost aching; it showed a love that broke the conventions.

6. Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera

Guillermo Kahlo on Wikimedia Commons

Kahlo’s art was roaring, but her letters to Diego were a wailing even higher. “I love you more than my own skin.” she wrote, a sentiment as raw and colorful as her paintings. Her fevered, stormy love for Rivera smoldered within every word.

7. Zelda Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald

Studio photographer on Wikimedia Commons

Zelda’s letters to Scott had a poetic, affectionate quality. “I look down the tracks and see you coming and out of every haze and mist your darling rumpled trousers are hurrying to me,” she mused. Her prose captured the whirlwind romance that became their legendary love story.

8. Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West

Racconish on Wikimedia Commons

Virginia Woolf wrote to Vita some of her most personal words, describing the depth of her love. “I have been reduced to a thing that wants Virginia… I miss you more than I could ever have thought I could miss anyone,” she confessed. Woolf’s letters were staggeringly frank, full of yearning desire and lyrical splendor.

9. Abigail Adams to John Adams

Benjamin Blyth on Wikimedia Commons

During war and revolution, Abigail Adams penned letters saturated with love and wisdom. “My Dearest Friend,” she wrote, urging him to “remember the ladies” as the new nation took shape. Their correspondence showed a bond forged from mutual respect and intellect and the deepest admiration.

10. Johnny Cash to June Carter Cash

CBS Television on Wikimedia Commons

Few romance tales were known between music rivals Johnny and June. On her 65th birthday, he wrote, “You’re the object of my desire, the No. 1 earthly reason for my existence.” His plaintive words were the testimony to a love palpitating through a lifetime.

11. King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

Hans Holbein the Younger on Wikimedia Commons

Before tragedy befell their romance, Henry VIII penned letters steeped in obsession and devotion. “We two, my heart and I, give ourselves into your hands,” he wrote, needing her love. Released from secrecy, these letters offered a glimpse of a passion that forged history.

12. Charlotte Brontë to Constantin Héger

George Richmond on Wikimedia Commons

The writer of Jane Eyre directed her unreciprocated love to letters to her Belgian teacher. “I would write a book and dedicate it to my literature master.” she confessed. Her language conveys a heart simultaneously in love and in anguish.

13. Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren

Moshe Milner on Wikimedia Commons

In her letters to her American lover, the brilliant philosopher revealed her deeply romantic side. “My dearest love, I love you now more than always.” she wrote, dispelling the myth of the cold intellectual. The letters provided a passionate, vulnerable aspect of de Beauvoir.

14. Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor

20th Century Fox on Wikimedia Commons

Burton’s correspondence to Taylor was as theatrical as the drama of their love. He described her as “my great mystery” and wrote about the fire and beauty of their bond. His words came from an exhilarating love that despite their numerous breakups, defied the odds.

15. Nathaniel Hawthorne to Sophia Peabody

Mathew Benjamin Brady on Wikimedia Commons

The Scarlet Letter author discovered his own love story in his correspondence with Sophia. “I love thee infinitely, and I long for thee infinitely,” he admitted. His words were ideals as romantic as the fictional works he penned.

16. James Joyce to Nora Barnacle

Alex Ehrenzweig on Wikimedia Commons

The renowned Irish writer wasn’t coy about his romance with his wife. “You are my only love,” he wrote, sometimes in deeply poetic and sometimes scandalously explicit letters. His words suggested a wild kind of love that combined intellectual connection with a powerful and carnal one.

17. Anne Sexton to Philip Legler

Associated Press on Wikimedia Commons

Sexton, who was famed for her raw, unfiltered poetry, wrote equally ferocious love letters. “I love you, I love you, I want to be with you." she wrote, simply but powerfully. Her letters, like her poetry, crackled with an urgency that must be felt.

18. Gustav Mahler to Alma Schindler

Leonard Berlin on Wikimedia Commons

The great composer penned a letter to his wife with devotion and yearning. “You are my everything.” he wrote, crafting music with words as much as with notes. Mahler’s letters exposed the soul of an artist utterly in love.

19. Mark Twain to Olivia Langdon

A.F. Bradley, New York on Wikimedia Commons

The legendary wordsmith, known for his wit, was also a deeply romantic, passionate man. “I do not love you as I did yesterday but I shall love you more tomorrow.” he promised his wife, Livy. Twain’s letters were tender and playful, describing a love that deepened with age.

20. Winston Churchill to Clementine Churchill

United Nations Information Office, New York on Wikimedia Commons

The hard-edged wartime leader was a sentimentalist about his wife, Clementine. In one letter, he wrote, “My darling Clemmie, in your letter from Madras you wrote some words very dear to me.” Churchill’s letters revealed a love that endured decades of history-making.

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