Introduction
Funny love poems are for readers who want romance without sounding too serious, too dramatic, or too cheesy. Some love poems make people sigh; others make them smile because they tell the truth about courtship, awkward praise, silly promises, impossible devotion, rejection, old love, or the strange comedy of being in love at all. This collection follows that second path: witty, playful, romantic, and light-hearted poems by real classic poets.
The poem choices below match searches such as funny love poems, short funny love poems, funny poems about love, funny romantic poems, funny love poems for her, funny love poems for him, funny love poems that rhyme, funny love poems not too cheesy, funny love poems for cards, and funny love poems to make someone laugh. Readers who want more light-hearted collections can also explore Funny Poems.
Older poets did not always write in today’s greeting-card style, so the post combines several kinds of humor: Shakespeare’s anti-cheesy love, Suckling’s witty lover advice, Donne’s playful arguments, Lear’s nonsense romance, Raleigh’s realistic answer to romantic promises, and short poems that can work for cards, texts, captions, and relationship messages. Each poem includes source details, a rights note, a short meaning, and a practical use case.
Poetry & Meaning
Funny Love Poems
Funny PoemsMy Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun (Sonnet 130)
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Overview Short Summary
This is one of the best funny love poems for readers who dislike exaggerated romantic clichés. Shakespeare jokes about unrealistic praise, then ends with sincere affection.
Use Case Best For
- Funny love poems not too cheesy: Honest and anti-cliché.
- Funny love poems for her: Works when the tone is witty and familiar.
- Funny romantic poems: The joke leads to a genuine love statement.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Witty, teasing, realistic, and affectionate.
Poetry Craft Poetic Devices
- Parody: The poem mocks overdone romantic comparisons.
- Comic contrast: Ordinary human details replace impossible beauty claims.
- Turn: The final couplet changes the joke into sincere love.
Search Intent Keyword Connection
Targets funny love poems, funny love poems not too cheesy, funny love poems for her, funny romantic poems, and funny poems about love.
Encouragements to a Lover
Why so pale and wan, fond lover?
Prythee, why so pale?
Will, if looking well can’t move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prythee, why so pale?
Why so dull and mute, young sinner?
Prythee, why so mute?
Will, when speaking well can’t win her,
Saying nothing do’t?
Prythee, why so mute?
Quit, quit, for shame! this will not move,
This cannot take her;
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her:
The devil take her!
Overview Short Summary
Suckling gives comic advice to a lovesick person: looking miserable will not make anyone fall in love. It is sharp, funny, and useful for anti-cheesy love searches.
Use Case Best For
- Funny love poems for him: A witty poem about a lovesick man.
- Funny love poems to make him laugh: Direct, teasing advice.
- Short funny love poems: Compact and easy to read.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Sharp, playful, teasing, and direct.
Poetry Craft Poetic Devices
- Rhetorical questions: The speaker keeps asking why the lover looks so sad.
- Repetition: “Prythee, why so pale?” creates comic pressure.
- Blunt ending: The final line gives the poem its punch.
Search Intent Keyword Connection
Targets funny love poems for him, short funny love poems, funny love poems to make him laugh, and funny love poems not too cheesy.
The Constant Lover
Out upon it, I have loved
Three whole days together!
And am like to love three more,
If it prove fair weather.
Time shall moult away his wings,
Ere he shall discover
In the whole wide world again
Such a constant lover.
But the spite on’t is, no praise
Is due at all to me:
Love with me had made no stays,
Had it any been but she.
Overview Short Summary
This poem is funny because the speaker calls three days of love a grand act of constancy. It is perfect for playful, short, and self-aware love content.
Use Case Best For
- Short funny love poems: Brief and memorable.
- Funny love poems for texting: Easy to send with a joke.
- Funny love poems for couples: Good for couples who enjoy mock drama.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Witty, self-mocking, and playful.
Poetry Craft Poetic Devices
- Irony: Three days are treated like heroic devotion.
- Understatement and exaggeration: The poem jokes about commitment.
- Compact structure: Short stanzas make it easy to quote in a card.
Search Intent Keyword Connection
Targets short funny love poems, funny love poems for texting, funny love poems for couples, and funny love poems not too cheesy.
I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart
I prithee send me back my heart,
Since I cannot have thine;
For if from yours you will not part,
Why then shouldst thou have mine?
Yet now I think on’t, let it lie;
To find it were in vain;
For th’ hast a thief in either eye
Would steal it back again.
Why should two hearts in one breast lie,
And yet not lodge together?
O love! where is thy sympathy,
If thus our breasts thou sever?
But love is such a mystery,
I cannot find it out;
For when I think I’m best resolved,
I then am most in doubt.
Then farewell care, and farewell woe;
I will no longer pine;
For I’ll believe I have her heart
As much as she hath mine.
Overview Short Summary
This playful heart-theft poem turns unreturned love into a clever argument about who owns whose heart.
Use Case Best For
- Funny love poems for her: Lightly dramatic and charming.
- Funny love poems for cards: Works as a clever old-style card poem.
- Funny poems about love: Uses the classic heart metaphor in a witty way.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Playful, clever, romantic, and slightly dramatic.
Poetry Craft Poetic Devices
- Extended metaphor: The heart is treated like something stolen or returned.
- Rhetorical question: The speaker argues with love itself.
- Irony: The speaker tries to be resolved but stays confused.
Search Intent Keyword Connection
Targets funny love poems for her, funny love poems for cards, funny poems about love, and funny love poems to make her laugh.
The Scrutinie
Why should you sweare I am forsworn,
Since thine I vow’d to be?
Lady it is already Morn,
And ’twas last night I swore to thee
That fond impossibility.
Have I not lov’d thee much and long,
A tedious twelve houres space?
I must all other Beauties wrong,
And rob thee of a new imbrace;
Could I still doat upon thy Face.
Not but all joy in thy browne haire
By others may be found;
But I must search the blacke and faire
Like skilfull Minerallists that sound
For Treasure in un-plow’d-up ground.
Then, if when I have lov’d my round,
Thou prov’st the pleasant she;
With spoyles of meaner Beauties crown’d,
I laden will returne to thee,
Ev’n sated with Varietie.
Overview Short Summary
This is a witty, complicated love poem where the speaker makes a ridiculous argument for not being constant. Its humor is sharp, ironic, and old-fashioned.
Use Case Best For
- Funny love poems not too cheesy: More witty than sweet.
- Funny poems about love: Shows love as a clever social argument.
- Humorous love poems: Works for readers who like satire.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
Witty, ironic, bold, and complicated.
Poetry Craft Poetic Devices
- Dramatic monologue: The speaker reveals his own flawed logic.
- Irony: He calls twelve hours a long devotion.
- Argument structure: The poem sounds like a playful courtroom defense.
Search Intent Keyword Connection
Targets funny love poems not too cheesy, humorous love poems, funny poems about love, and funny romantic poems.