Overview

Love is a most warming, happy, inspirational human feeling. It surrounds us throughout our lives and takes many shapes and forms. You will find it in the softness of your mother’s hands, the passions of youth or mature understanding with age. Since the story of mankind began, it has inspired some of the most beautiful images in poetry or painting.

Love is something we all share no matter where we live and it disregards social status or age. Shakespeare has captured the spirit of it, its highs and lows, and the beauty of falling in love in some of the most poetical lines ever written. He wrote 38 plays and the word love is mentioned in each one of them. In some, it is very frequent:

• The Two gentleman of Verona – 162 times
• Romeo and Juliet – 120
• As you like it – 104
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream – 103
• Much Ado About Nothing – 89

(Richard Gill, Mastering Shakespeare, 1998)

View Shakespeare and Love as PDF with images

Page last updated: 16 October 2023