How to Find the Perfect Anniversary Poem

How to Find the Perfect Anniversary Poem

Men everywhere have scrambled for centuries on the day or two leading into an anniversary to both remember and find the perfect gift for their spouse. It can be a nerve wracking process, the kind that ends in either a romantic evening for two or a cold stare from across a long dining room table. The right anniversary poem can go a long way in ensuring the second situation never comes to pass.

Why an Anniversary Poem is the Perfect Gift

Poetry has been handed back and forth as a gift for millennia. Before anything was written down even, in ancient times, poetry was a gift given from one person to the next and was greatly appreciated as it displayed thoughtfulness and intellect. An anniversary poem given to a wife shows much the same. Instead of the same box of chocolates or flowers – both of which are thoughtful, but expected – the right anniversary poem will light up her day and ensure the kind of response you always want to see on an anniversary.

The Right Anniversary Poem

The right anniversary poem does not need to be about an anniversary. The right love poem is an ideal gift or a beautiful description of the landscape if it is worded well enough. There are endless options to choose from. To avoid cheesiness, do not choose a poem that she has likely heard numerous times before. Shakespeare’s sonnets are beautiful, but they are well known. Try to find a poem that best suits your particular relationship by mirroring your situation directly. You will know it when you find it.

Places to Start

There are dozens of poets who have written poems specifically for an anniversary. Some of the most famous, to give you an idea of what these famous wordsmiths gave to their wives and husbands include touching declarations of love on anniversaries, the days following a new marriage or just because they wanted to say “I love you.”

Of the Romantic and Victorian poets by whom so many of us know romantic poetry to be written, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Marriage Morning” is a prime example of the kind of anniversary poem a wife would surely love to receive. Describing the interminable nature of love, Tennyson describes his marriage as the culmination of his life’s work.

Emily Bronte’s poem “Love and Friendship”, while never directly speaking of marriage” describes the intertwined nature of love and friendship and how they feed each other, creating a stronger entity. The poem is short and evokes the simple image of a rose-briar and a holly-tree comingling, but speaks volumes of the love she had for her husband and family.

Poetry that describes the love for a wife or a husband is abundant throughout history and for that reason, though it might differ in context and form, the words of a couple that lived 200 or even 500 years ago can accurately describe the feelings a couple today, on their 20th anniversary feel for each other.