Intense emotions and fervent desires come to life in poems about passion. Whether it’s the fiery embrace of love, the insatiable quest for knowledge, or the relentless pursuit of a dream, these passion-infused poems are a captivating journey into the depths of human emotion.
These poems make the expressed emotions almost palpable through a tapestry of sensuous imagery, evocative language, and precise metaphors, all woven together to articulate the extraordinary feelings of longing, devotion, yearning, immersion, or obsession, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the powerful currents of passion.
Moments of consuming passion and unbearable yearning resonate with readers, prompting reflection on shared human experience and connection with the profound intensity of these feelings.
‘Be Drunk’ by Charles Baudelaire is a stirring poem meant to incite the reader to passion about life.
Baudelaire implies an unrelenting commitment to the passion for combating the monotony and burdens of daily existence by urging readers to be continually drunk on 'wine, poetry, or virtue.' It is a metaphor for embracing the intensity of experience that the brief transient human life offers. Thus, being drunk becomes synonymous with embracing passion in all forms – whether through sensory pleasure, artistic expression, or moral enthusiasm of virtue. The exhortation to 'be drunk' symbolizes passion - a rebellious force against the monotony of transient life and a key to unlocking a more profound life experience.
You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk.
‘More Strong Than Time’ by Victor Hugo is a powerfully romantic poem that declares love as withstanding the withering effects of time.
The poem radiates with fierce passion, woven intricately into its sensual imagery and evocative language. It vividly portrays the passionate intimacy shared between the speaker and their beloved, wherein each has experienced the other intensely, emphasizing their profound spiritual and physical connection. The poem ends with lines presenting the powerful flame of passion that binds the lovers' hearts: 'My heart has far more fire than you can frost to chill,/ My soul more love than you can make my soul forget.' This profound passion fuels the speaker's boldness as they confidently declare their love to be stronger than time.
Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet,
Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid,
Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it,
And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade;
‘Love Sonnet XI’ by Pablo Neruda presents passionate longing and consuming desire through sensual imagery and intense metaphors.
The poem carries an overpowering emotion of unrestrained, consuming passion that makes the speaker restless like a hungry puma. This passion is so intense that it consumes the speaker's very being as he longs for his beloved. The poem's sensual imagery aptly captures the speaker's burning passion as he expresses his desire, 'I want to eat your skin like a whole almond,' and 'I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body.' Throughout the poem, the speaker craves every facet of the beloved's body and even her intangible qualities, expressing a powerful and uncontrollable emotion of fiery passion fuelling his every thought and action.
I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
‘Wild nights – Wild nights!’ by Emily Dickinson is a multi-faceted poem. It explores an ambiguous relationship that could be religious or sexual.
The speaker's unbridled passion for her beloved is as wild as the weather in the poem. She yearns for physical and emotional connection, which provides pleasure and safety like a port during such rough weather. The last lines, 'Ah - the sea!/ Might I but moor - tonight -/ In thee!' bearing apparent sexual innuendos and signs of imagined pleasure bring forth the fervor of the speaker's consuming passion for a physical connection or sexual pleasure with her beloved. The poem evidently presents Dickinson's keen understanding of the emotion of passion.
In ‘A Red, Red Rose,’ Robert Burns lyrically celebrates enduring love, promising everlasting commitment amidst a temporary farewell.
The poem pulsates with the emotion of intense passion as it expresses the speaker's unwavering commitment to his love, the addressee. Displaying ardent love as a passionate force, the speaker promises to love the addressee even if the seas run dry, rocks melt, and life runs out, in touching lines - 'Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,/ And the rocks melt wi' the sun;/ I will love thee still, my dear,/ While the sands o' life shall run.' Moreover, the symbol of the rose presents the tenderness of the speaker's enduring passion, which transcends time and space.
‘An Introduction’ by Kamala Das passionately outlines her views on marriage, sexuality, language, modern India and more.
This poem is among the most impressive and memorable portrayals of a passionate voice of any poem written in the past one hundred years. Das' narrator is unapologetically passionate in her belief in her own abilities and rights. The ways in which she defines her own identity, dismisses her critics, and sets out her vision of the future are incredible to read.
I don't know politics but I know the names
Of those in power, and can repeat them like
Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru.
Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’ narrates the tale of the cursed Lady entrapped in a tower on the island of Shalott, who meets a tragic end.
Passion is manifested in Lancelot's description. His appearance is likened to celestial phenomena having sexual undertones—his gemmy bridle glitters like stars, his armor and helmet burn like a burning flame, and he moves like a bearded meteor trailing light through the night sky. These fiery images reflect the Lady's consuming passion and desire for Lancelot. His physical allure—his broad, clear brow, coal-black curls, and radiant presence—ignites her suppressed sexuality and longing, driving her to break the rules while illustrating the power of romantic and sexual passion.
‘Post-Script’ envisions the sacrificial offering of bad poems as the first step toward igniting creative development.
Without a doubt, the most powerful emotion in Clarke's poem is the passion evoked and illustrated by the bonfire. Her diction is one aflame with all the ways the heat kindles the sacrificed poems into something more than what they were before. They are given a new life, which is depicted through the poet's use of personification and vibrant imagery. Each stanza escalates the life-giving properties of the inferno until the poems themselves have eaten it all away, leading to one last impassioned greeting of a "new year."
‘Passion for Solitude’ by Cesare Pavese explores the end of a day, with a man watching the world become quiet from his house.
This poem articulates a profound passion for solitude through the speaker's deliberate embrace of solitary experience. The speaker displays heightened sensitivity to sensory experiences in solitude, from the taste of food to the night sky's observation. The speaker's immersion in the tranquil environment reveals an intense fondness for being alone. This poem illustrates that passion is not limited to conventional subjects; it drives the speaker's intimate and fulfilling connection with the self and the surroundings.
I’m eating a little supper by the bright window.
The room’s already dark, the sky’s starting to turn.
‘The Cry’ by Federico García Lorca is a moving poem that illustrates the mystic but immensely tangible effect that song can have on the individual.
One of the more powerful emotions present in Lorca's poem can be described as fervently shared passion. This comes in the form of the singer's shout, which communicates a range of emotions from sadness to liberating excitement. What unites them is the immense vigor and intensity with which they are propelled.
Tennyson’s ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal’ illustrates lovers’ union and the speaker’s desire through intricate nature imagery at twilight.
The crimson petal and the awakening of the firefly symbolize the speaker's intense passion. The line 'Now lies Earth all Danaë to the stars' symbolizes sexual passion, alluding to the myth of Danaë, who lay open to Zeus's as he fell upon her in the form of golden rain impregnating her. This also suggests the beloved's vulnerability to the burning passion as the speaker approaches her. The water lily slipping into the lake's bosom carries an erotic undertone, symbolizing a merging of selves. The speaker wishes his beloved to melt into his embrace, intermingled and immersed in a shared passion.
‘Sonnet 131,’ also known as ‘Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,’ is a poem about how the Dark Lady’s beauty moves the speaker. He knows she’s untraditionally beautiful but he doesn’t care!
This sonnet is all about the heartfelt passion the speaker has for the Dark Lady. His love for her may not be accepted by society. But, he confidently declares, “Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.”
In ‘Sonnet 43’, or ‘How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways’ the speaker is proclaiming her unending passion for her beloved.
Passion permeates the poem, as Browning describes love with fervor and intensity. Each line contributes to an image of love that consumes and fulfills her, creating an almost overwhelming effect. Her portrayal of passionate love goes beyond sentiment, evoking a feeling so powerful it verges on sacred, making this emotion central to the poem’s impact.
‘I have never seen “Volcanoes”’ by Emily Dickinson is a clever, complex poem that compares humans and their emotions to a volcano’s eruptive power.
Ultimately, volcanoes are both terrifying and beautiful; they are destructive, yet the fertility of volcanic soil has a potential for creation. The symbolism inherent in the volcano serves as a metaphor for the dynamic force of passion, possessing the ability to destroy and create. Moreover, when viewed through a contemporary lens, the poem seems to hint at the realm of sexual pleasure. Volcanoes, therefore, can be symbolic of the zenith of sexual pleasure and consuming passion.
‘Bards of Passion and of Mirth’ by John Keats is one of the poet’s early odes. In it, Keats confirms that bards, or authors, have two souls, with one rising to heaven, and the other staying on earth.
Poets are known to possess an ardent passion for life and art; this poem presents the power of intense passion as poets' vibrant and creative spirit lingers even after their physical deaths as their passionate words resonate through the celestial spheres. This enduring passion inspires the living, emphasizing the transformative and timeless nature of artistic fervor that transcends mortal existence.
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