Love letters will always be a romantic part of history, both past and present. But if you take a moment to look back on some of the most romantic love letters ever written by historical figures, these 10 will surely be on every list.
1. Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf (January 21, 1926)
"I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way...You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don't love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defenses. And I don't really resent it."
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2. Frida Kahlo to Diego Riviera (circa 1920)
"Nothing compares to your hands, nothing like the green-gold of your eyes. My body is filled with you for days and days. You are the mirror of the night. The violent flash of lightning. The dampness of the earth. The hollow of your armpits is my shelter. My fingers touch your blood. All my joy is to feel life spring from your flower-fountain that mine keeps to fill all the paths of my nerves which are yours."
3. Emily Dickinson to Susan Gilbert (June 11, 1852)
"…Susie, forgive me Darling, for every word I say – my heart is full of you, none other than you is in my thoughts, yet when I seek to say to you something not for the world, words fail me. If you were here – and Oh that you were, my Susie, we need not take at all, our eyes would whisper for us, and your hand fast in mine…"
4. Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas (August 1897)
"Everyone is furious with me for going back to you, but they don't understand us. I feel that it is only with you that I can do anything at all. Do remake my ruined life for me, and then our friendship and love will have a different meaning to the world. I wish that when we met at Rouen we had not parted at all. There are such wide abysses now of space and land between us. But we love each other."
5. Beethoven to his Immortal Beloved (July 1812)
"Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, Be calm – love me – today –yesterday – what tearful longings for you – you – you – my life – my all–farewell. Oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved. Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours."
6. Zelda to F. Scott Fitzgerald (1920)
"Without you, dearest dearest I couldn't see or hear or feel or think—or live—I love you so and I'm never in all our lives going to let us be apart another night. It's like begging for mercy of a storm or killing Beauty or growing old, without you. I want to kiss you so—and in the back where your dear hair starts and your chest—I love you—and I can't tell you how much—To think that I'll die without your knowing"
7. Marilyn Monroe To Joe DiMaggio (1954)
"I don't know how to tell you just how much I miss you. I love you till my heart could burst. All I love, all I want, all I need is you — forever. I want to be just where you are and be just what you want me to be. I know it's lousy of me to be so late so often, and I promise to try a million times harder, I promise. Love, Marilyn"
8. George H Bush to Barbara Bush (1943)
"I love you, precious, with all my heart and to know that you love me means my life. How often I have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours some day. How lucky our children will be to have a mother like you..."
9. Georgia O'Keeffe to Alfred Stieglitz (circa 1929)
"Dearest — my body is simply crazy with wanting you — If you don't come tomorrow — I don't see how I can wait for you — I wonder if your body wants mine the way mine wants yours — the kisses — the hotness — the wetness — all melting together — the being held so tight that it hurts — the strangle and the struggle."
10. Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan (March 4, 1983)
"Dear First Lady,
I know tradition has it that on this morning I place Happy Anniversary cards on your breakfast tray. But things are somewhat mixed up. I substituted a gift & delivered it a few weeks ago.
Still this is the day, the day that marks 31 years of such happiness as comes to few men.
I told you once that it was like an adolescent's dream of what marriage should be like. That hasn't changed.
You know I love the ranch but these last two days made it plain I only love it when you are there. Come to think of it that's true of every place & every time. When you aren't there I'm no place, just lost in time & space.
I more than love you, I'm not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I'm waiting for you to return so I can start living again.
Happy Anniversary & thank you for 31 wonderful years.
I love you
Your Grateful Husband"
Sources:
"The Most Beautiful Love Letters Of All Time," The Culture Trip
"15 Famous Love Letters From Celebrities and Historical Figures," Country Living
"The 10 Best Love Letters Ever Written," Glamour
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