Poetry and drama
In Glauben und Liebe (Faith and Love) from 1798, Novalis wrote: “Love is the final end of the world's history, the Amen of the universe.” And this is how Shakespeare’s protagonist Juliet expressed her feelings in Romeo and Juliet in 1597: “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.” There you have two moving declarations of love. But people just wouldn’t confess their undying love to anyone like that these days.
Modern-day declarations of love
Sometimes, less is more. Like this line from the song Das Beste (The Best) by German band Silbermond: “I don’t say it enough. But it’s nice that you’re in the world”. It’s simple but it comes straight from the heart. Van Morrison is even more poetic in his song Crazy Love: “... and the heavens open every time she smiles”. And when Julia Roberts says, “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her” in the film Notting Hill, she paints more than a thousand pictures with her words.
Romantic reveals
In the film The Notebook, Ryan Gosling’s character Noah isn’t shy about expressing his emotions when he tells his beloved Allie that she’s the answer to every prayer he’s offered. He goes on: “You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don’t know how I could have lived without you for as long as I have.” Now, that might have brought a tear to your eye in the cinema, but it would probably be a bit much in real life. The film version of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice takes us back to the early 19th century. And yet Mr Darcy sounds surprisingly modern when he tells Elizabeth Bennet, “You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.” It’s perhaps a little on the formal side but it’s far from an old-fashioned way of saying I love you.
A declaration of love like no other
These days, a declaration of love can be just about anything – cheesy, gushing, desperate, elegant and even a bit naive. One unforgettable example comes from the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... Harry tells the slightly overenthusiastic Sally that he loves that she gets cold when it’s 71 degrees out and that he loves that it takes her an hour and a half to order a sandwich. And Harry takes it up a gear by telling Sally that he loves that she is the last person he wants to talk to before he goes to sleep at night. Unfortunately, we don’t all have a screenwriter like Oscar-nominated Norah Ephron by our side to put the right words in our mouth like Billy Crystal’s character Harry did. The rest of us have to keep things simple and stick with the classics like, “I love you just the way you are”.
Ovens, dogs and love
Cabaret artist and author Joachim Ringelnatz (1883–1934) didn’t even try to be serious. We might not know how his beloved reacted, but there’s no doubt that his declaration of love is one of the funniest we’ve heard: “I love you so much! that without giving it any thought I’d give you a tile from my oven.” Snoopy, the writing dog from the Peanuts comic strip, has his own way with words when it comes to matters of the heart. This is what he wrote in his manuscript: “My darling, you asked me if I love you. There is only one thing I can say: Yeah.” It’s as simple as that.
Steer clear of stolen sentiments
The Internet is full of ready-made declarations of love. Some of them are kind of stupid... How about this one? You’re the cheese to my macaroni. Now, we know they say the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach. But this is seriously lacking romance. You can find all kinds of love poems on blogs out there too. But do you really want to rely on someone else’s words? Just think about the film Cyrano de Bergerac. There’s no happy ending for the handsome young man who asks a poet to write love letters on his behalf because he doesn’t have a way with words.
One parting tip
Looking for just the right way to express how you’re feeling to someone you love but don’t know where to start? Just remember that nobody is perfect. So you don’t need to feel under any pressure to find the perfect way to tell someone you love them. In fact, you’ll often find that the simplest way of expressing something is also the most genuine. All that matters is that you speak from the heart.
