Can you be romantic in English? Song lyrics are full of ways to say: “I love you.” You could choose the simple “Love, love me do, you know I love you,” by the Beatles; or the sweet: “I fall in love with you every single day,” as in the Ed Sheeran song. Or the weird “I love you like a fat kid loves cake,” as the rapper 50 Cent put it.
roses are red
But if you’re looking for a more traditional way to express your love this Valentine’s Day, here’s a quick tour of English love poetry.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet
And so are you
Las rosas son rojas
Las violetas son azules
Dulce es el azúcar
Pero no tan dulce como tú
This Valentine’s Day, thousands of cards will be sent containing these simple lines. They’re so common they’ve become a cliché, but there is a meaning behind them. In the language of flowers, red roses symbolise passionate love and blue violets represent faithfulness. This poem is so well known that it’s easy to subvert, and plenty of people have. Children in school playgrounds have fun with joke versions like this one:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Onions stink
And so do you
Las rosas son rojas
Las violetas son azules
Las cebollas apestan
Pero tú apestas más
Of course, in the Twittersphere you’ll find plenty of humorous memes like these two:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Vodka is cheaper
Than dinner for two
Las rosas son rojas
Las violetas son azules
El vodka es más barato
Que una cena a solas
Roses are red
Violets are blue
If you buy me €3.99 flowers from Lidl
Your life won’t be worth living
Las rosas son rojas
Las violetas son azules
Si me das flores del Lidl por 3,99 euros
Que Júpiter te derribe
why roses?
There are so many flowers that could represent love, so why choose the red rose? Well, the association of roses and love goes back to ancient Greece where the rose was one of the symbols associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. The rose’s strong perfume and soft petals also add to its associations of sensuality.
In English poetry, the rose as a symbol of romantic love first appears in a 14th century translation by Geoffrey Chaucer of an earlier French poem, Le Roman de la Rose. In it, the narrator receives advice from the god of love about how to win the love of his lady. This love is symbolized by a rose.
from scotland to the states
Some of the best-known lines about love and roses are by Scottish poet Robbie Burns, in a version of a traditional love song:
Oh my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune
Mi amor es una rosa roja, roja
recién florecida en junio;
mi amor es una melodía
que se toca afinada
I expect you’ve noticed the spelling mistake Luve/Love. It’s because Robbie Burns was writing in the Scots language, which is a bit different from English.
the perfect rose
Dorothy Parker, the American poet and satirist, wrote a typically amusing poem about receiving “one perfect rose” from a lover. She ends the poem with the lines:
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get
One perfect rose
¿Por qué nadie me ha enviado nunca
una limusina perfecta, ¿puedes decírmelo?
Ah, siempre es mi suerte, sólo consigo
una rosa perfecta
So, using the rose as a symbol of love, or comparing your beloved to a rose, is traditional in English poetry, but some poets have used other less conventional images to express their passion.
love bites!
One of the greatest writers of English love poetry, John Donne (1572-1631), wrote a very famous love poem called The Flea. Although fleas don’t often appear in love poetry, this poem is, in fact, quite erotic. Donne writes about being bitten by a flea to illustrate how passionately he feels and how much he wants to have sex with his beloved.
It [the flea] sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be
Primero me chupó a mí, y ahora a ti:
En esta pulga mezclada nuestra sangre
nothing like the sun
Shakespeare certainly knew how to write about love; his play Romeo and Juliet is the classic love story of all time. And yet, throughout his work, Shakespeare avoids clichés about love. In his Sonnet 130 he laughs at cliched poetry that traditionally exaggerates women’s beauty by saying their eyes are like the sun, their skin as white as snow, etc. Shakespeare’s sonnet starts: “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun.”
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks
Los ojos de mi mujer no son como el sol;
El coral es mucho más rojo que sus labios:
Si la nieve es blanca, ¿por qué sus pechos son grises?
Si los cabellos son filamentos, hilos negros crecen en su cabeza
He visto rosas abigarradas, rojas y blancas,
Pero no vi rosas en sus mejillas.
It’s honest and doesn’t exaggerate. So, when at the end of the poem he finally expresses his love, we know he really means it. This is true love. Happy Valentine’s Day!