Top 10 Famous Love Letters in History
Swoon! These love letters are iconic. We've included famous love letters in history like Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe to Joe DiMaggio, Zelda Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf, Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera, Beethoven for “Immortal Beloved”, Johnny Cash to June Carter, and John Keats to Fanny Brawne.
#10: Richard Burton to Elizabeth Taylor
The Brangelina of their day, Burton and Taylor had a tumultuous and torrid relationship, marrying and divorcing and then marrying again. Meeting on the set of “Cleopatra,” the two instantaneously felt a connection, despite both of them being married to other people at the time. The pair went on to star together in many films, and were great fodder for the gossip columns. As their first marriage ended, Burton wrote to Taylor, describing how he couldn’t believe she even stuck around with him so long. While it might be sad, we are enthralled by their tempestuous relationship.
#9: Marilyn Monroe to Joe DiMaggio
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Dearly loved for her looks and films, actress Marilyn Monroe was also an avid letter writer. Despite the ups and downs of her love life, letters found in her ex-husband Joe DiMaggio’s estate prove that Monroe was a romantic at heart. Even though the two divorced in 1954, less than a year after they were married, this letter might be considered a sentimental keepsake. With phrases like “I love you till my heart could burst,” Monroe poeticizes their relationship and promises to be better for the man she loved. Considering Monroe divorced him on the grounds of “mental cruelty,” we can’t help but think that she might have been better off without him anyway.
#8: Zelda Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald
It comes as no surprise to anyone that people who put pen to paper to author novels might also put pen to paper to write letters, and the Fitzgeralds are an iconic literary couple who did just that. After the publication of “The Great Gatsby,” this couple was launched to fame, but their troubled relationship caused them both pain. Zelda writes “I love your sad tenderness — when I’ve hurt you — That’s one of the reasons I could never be sorry for our quarrels” in her letter. This buttresses the view that theirs might not have been the most healthy relationship in the universe, as wildly romantic as it might seem to everyone else.
#7: Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf, one of the prime forces behind the modernist movement and author of a myriad of influential 20th century works, began an affair with poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West in the mid-1920s. Despite the fact that both women were married, their relationship lasted several years, with a great deal of letters as evidence of their relationship with each other. With Sackville-West proclaiming “It is incredible how essential to me you have become” in one letter to Woolf, we have no reason to doubt that theirs was anything but genuine love, even though they eventually infamously separated for good.
#6: Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas
Oscar Wilde might now be considered one of the greatest gay heroes of literature, but during his lifetime, homosexual activity was illegal, landing him in a whole lot of trouble. After an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde was tried and sent to prison for two years on the charge of “gross indecency.” Even though they were separated by the law and the walls of prison for this time, when Wilde was released, he rekindled his relationship with Lord Douglas. “Everyone is furious with me for going back to you, but they don’t understand us,” he wrote. From our side of history, we can’t help but think he made the right choice.
#5: Napoleon Bonaparte to Joséphine de Beauharnais
Napoleon Bonaparte took forbidden love to a whole new level when he married his mistress, Joséphine. And if this wasn’t scandal enough he then went ahead and crowned her Empress of France. Things might have been good for a little while, with letters bestowing “millions of kisses,” but like every ruler who wanted to secure his legacy, Bonaparte longed for an heir. When his new empress could not deliver, he divorced her. But if that makes you doubt his love for her, you’d be mistaken. He insisted that she keep the title of Empress even after their divorce, and her name was the very last thing he said on his deathbed.
#4: Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera
There’s nothing like someone who usually expresses themselves through visual arts trying to express themselves in words. Two of Mexico’s most well known artists were the power couple of the art world in their day and are still considered some of history’s most influential artists. Even Kahlo’s letters to her husband are filled with references to light and colour and shape, mimicking in words the way the artist used paints. While the letters were originally written in Spanish, English translations are available and well worth reading.
#3: Ludwig van Beethoven to His “Immortal Beloved”
… Beethoven might be best known for his musical compositions, but scholars have been almost as fascinated by the singular letter he wrote to someone simply known as “Immortal Beloved.” Composed July 6 and 7 in 1812, the 10-page missive was apparently never sent and was only discovered after his death. The intensity of feeling evoked by his writing has inspired a guessing game among Beethoven enthusiasts as to the identity of the intended recipient. Whoever they were, they clearly brought forth deep wells of emotion from this fiery compositional genius.
#2: Johnny Cash to June Carter
If we ever doubt the existence of true love, we just have to look to this couple to have our belief reaffirmed. Johnny Cash is easily one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, and while his legacy lives on, his letter to his wife for her 65th birthday makes us admire him even more. Honest and touching, Cash writes “we get old and get used to each other,” then describes what it’s like to be married to someone for so long and still be in love with them. It short but it’s sweet and knowing that the two of them died within a few months of each other, it makes us a bit sad.
#1: John Keats to Fanny Brawne
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Romantic poet Keats died alone and a long way from home, but his short life was filled with passion. Having fallen in love with his neighbour, Fanny Brawne, he wrote a host of letters, many of which still survive today. In one, he writes “I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days—three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” It’s one of the most uplifting, romantic things we have ever read, and while their relationship was marked by tragedy and the disapproval of Keats’ friends, we have no doubt that the two of them were meant for each other.
