15 of the Most Romantic Love Letters Ever Written—and How To Write a Great One Yourself

If you want them, say it. If you want to marry them, say it! Just think how sweet it would be one day to look back at those letters and see your intentions all spelled out for the first time. Romantic love letters are the one form where it’s crucial to have absolutely no subtext. Put it out there. Think about it: How nice would it be to hear them say, “You are the best part of my life?”

Lean into the drama of falling in love, like Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas

In June of 1891, Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde met Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, a then-21-year-old Oxford undergraduate who would come to be the author’s muse and lover. It was during the course of their affair that Wilde wrote Salomé and the four great plays which, to this day, are the cornerstone of his literary legacy. Unfortunately their relationship was not accepted at the time and the duo carried on their affair in secret. Wilde’s surviving letters make the enduring power of their love clear.

“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.”

Your affair is probably not forbidden, but if it’s even a little bit taboo…ooh, that’s money. Job keeping you apart? Parents ever so slightly judgmental? You’re got yourself a tragic love story, the most romantic kind. And if there’s nothing standing between you, make it up! Yes, you can role play in letters. It’s fan autofiction.

Make wild promises, like Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

The King of England for 38 years, Henry VIII wrote his lover, Anne Boleyn, a collection of secret, romantic letters for her. Henry was a despotic ruler with six wives—two of whom he beheaded, including Anne. But he was also noted as a great romantic, as shown in the letters Henry wrote Anne during their years-long courtship.