Layla and Majnun
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In literature
Layla and Majnun, Nezami's Persian tale about a moon-princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the man who was desperately in love with her, resulting in his madness. This story, along with complex occurrences in the personal lives of Eric Clapton and George Harrison, was an inspiration for Clapton's song "Layla".
The 1st century BC Roman poet Catullus wrote about his unrequited love for Lesbia (Clodia) in several of his Carmina.
Abraham Cowley wrote of the emotion (in "Anacreontiques: Or, Some Copies of Verses Translated Paraphrastically out of Anacreon"):
- "A mighty pain to love it is,
- And 'tis a pain that pain to miss;
- But of all pains, the greatest pain
- It is to love, but love in vain."
Robert Burns' poem "Anna, Thy Charms" catches it succinctly:
- "Anna, thy charms my bosom fire,
- And waste my soul with care;
- But ah! how bootless to admire,
- When fated to despair!
- Yet in thy presence, lovely Fair,
- To hope may be forgiven;
- For sure 'twere impious to despair
- So much in sight of heaven."
Dante Alighieri for Beatrice Portinari- Perhaps the most famous example in Western culture of unrequited love. Dante apparently spoke to Beatrice only twice in his life, the first time when he was nine years old and she was eight. Although both went on to marry other people, Dante nevertheless regarded Beatrice as the great love of his life and his "muse." He made her the guide to Heaven in his work The Divine Comedy. Additionally, all of the examples in Dante's manual for poets, La Vita Nuova, are about his love for Beatrice. The prose which surrounds the examples further tells the story of his lifelong devotion to her.
Petrarch is famous for his love for the lady Laura. He is best remembered for the sonnets he wrote her, despite her marriage to another man.
Unrequited love is present in all of Jane Austen's novels. Both Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet feel their love is unrequited at some point during Pride and Prejudice. In Mansfield Park Fanny Price suffers from a particularly drawn out case of unrequited love. It is also present in Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility. Generally, however, it is discovered by the end of the book that the love is actually requited and the two characters live happily ever after.
A.E. Housman wrote a poem inspired by his life-long unrequited love for his best friend Moses Jackson:
- "He would not stay for me, and who can wonder?
- He would not stay for me to stand and gaze.
- I shook his hand and tore my heart in sunder
- And went with half my life about my ways."
