No writer, before or since, has matched Shakespeare in terms of influence, critical acclaim or popular success. And the Bard had plenty to say about the subject of love – the word appears more than 2,000 times in his collected works! Packed full of timeless reflections on the subject – from the star-crossed devotions of Romeo and Juliet to the witty rhetoric in Much Ado About Nothing – and complemented by fascinating facts about Shakespeare and his works – this Little Book contains some of the most romantic and profound lines ever written in the English language.
“Hear my soul speak. Of the very instant that I saw you,
Did my heart fly at your service.”
Ferdinand – The Tempest, Act 3, Scene 1
“Did my heart love till now?
Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
Romeo – Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5
“Doubt that the stars are fire,
Doubt that the sun doth move his aides,
Doubt truth to be a liar,
But never doubt I love.”
Hamlet – Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2
No-one has influenced the modern rom-com genre as much as Shakespeare. Perhaps the Bard’s most influential romantic comedy is Much Ado About Nothing, the timeless tale of sworn enemies who become lovers. Countless pop-culture pairings owe a debt to the play, from Elizabeth and Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice to the leads in When Harry Met Sally and Something’s Gotta Give.
Shakespeare’s best-loved sonnet, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”, touches on the themes of unattainable love and mortality. The poem is part of Shakespeare’s “Fair Youth” sequence of sonnets, which many historians believe are actually about a young man.
