Shakespeare knew and said it thus, “Love’s not Time’s fool,” but “an ever-fixed mark, that looks on tempests and is never shaken.” The poetry of love—Shakespeare, the romantic poets, Elizabeth Barrett Browning—is likewise timeless; as love itself feels always fresh and unprecedented, so too do these words seem to spring forth, new and custom-fit for the contemporary paramour. Yet, the notion of a quiet romantic moment, of writing a note or a poem seems quaint to many. The feeds of social media may abound in displays of affection—we attend, in rapture, to televised royal weddings, pin our dream ceremonies, and celebrate relationship milestones by sharing them on Facebook—but these ephemeral means fail, in so many ways, to truly capture the spirit of romance. For that, we return to the masters of the immortal phrase, and share their insights into the enduring power of that which we call love.
