Researching love

To really write love letters you need to have read some really great love letters.  So, consider this sort of a homework assignment.  This is a list of books and authors I highly recommend.  I have always found great inspiration by going back and rereading them over the years.

"Time Enough For Love" by Robert Heinlein (I don't agree with everything in this book, but he does have some real gems in it that are facts of life and loving.) There are other great Heinlein books too that deal with the subject of love nicely.

"How Do I Love Thee" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (You can find the poem here  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/how-do-i-love-thee/
All the books by Leo Buscaglia - you can find an index of his best quotes at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Buscaglia,_Leo

Watch the movie "Cyrano de Bergerac."  It is a 1950 black & white move based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse/drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse as the basis for its screenplay. The actual verse is interesting too, but can be difficult to read.

After you have watched that movie, watch "Roxanne" starring Steve Martin as a modern day Cyrano.

Another great movie to inspire you for writing love letters is "The Lake House" starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock

Those are just the ones to start with.  Looking online for love poetry will bring you some great and inspiring quotes and ideas as well, but to truly express your love in a letter, you should write from your heart, not what someone else has already written. Which is not to say don't ever use other quotes or words, they can be a place to start your love letter.  Just don't make the entire letter one big quote from someone else. 

Songs are another great source of ideas and inspiration for writing your love letters.  They can also be a way to start a love letter.  Tell the person you love what that song means to you and how you relate to it, how it makes you think of them, what stirs your heart when you hear it.  I am not even going to begin a list of great love songs just yet, there are so many!

Here is my love quote of the day:

The signs of Love
 Should be as clear
  As when you look
   Into a mirror.     
And, as an image,
     Come to you
      Because you're
       Merely being you.

Have you been inspired by a piece of literature, a poem, a song?  Let me know which ones move you!