red_day_dawning (red_day_dawning) wrote in little_details,
red_day_dawning
red_day_dawning
little_details

selecting love poems for love letters

A male character is writing love letters to another male, and is including love poems in the letters.  So far only W.B.Yeat's poetry has been used, but I'd like to include more poets/poems.  The poems need not not be homo-erotic or even especially erotic in content - just well-written love poetry without too many gender-specific terms.

The setting in in the UK in the late '80s.

I've tried googling "love poetry/poems" and "erotic poetry/poems" and am getting nowhere with these broad search terms.  Any suggestions on poets or poems (preferably well-known and writing in English), appropriate search terms or useful web-sites?

Thank you!  Am getting brilliant suggestions!  Rilke, Whitman and a Scottish poet unknown to me, Edwin Morgan, are proving especially inspired choices.  Ginsberg also seems a popular suggestion, so will explore Ginsberg next!  And (*embarrassed*), Shakespeare's sonnets - can't believe I didn't think of that one myself!  Thanks all!

ETA:  Thanks to everyone - you've been absolutely brilliant! 
I've got 20 wonderful poems selected, and am still exploring more authors (after the Uni library tomorrow)!  Poets I've never heard of, poets I'd never read before and old favorites - all the suggestions have been inspired.
Thank you, thank you!
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