While some of these love stories are ones you've probably never heard of, they are worth both telling and knowing. Not all of these love stories have the fairytale ending either. But that's okay; love is beautiful, it is messy and sometimes it is just not destined to be. Yet, love is always a miracle that should be embraced! Take a risk; strive to be as bold as these fascinating lovers, even if they exist only in the figments of an author's imagination or in history (even the recent kind; chivalry isn't dead yet, ladies). I feel like I am doing the most beautiful emotion a disservice by ranking it. Alas, here is my futile and humble attempt (who knew that thinking about classic love will even make you write classically?)
20) Juan and Evita Peron – Tragic ending but, boy, did they look in love.
19) King Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castile – Instead of The Taj, he erected gothic crosses after her death.
18) Jay Gatsby and Daisy – Tragic but I wouldn't mind a Gatsby.
17) Heathcliff and Catherine – A tragic misunderstanding.
16) Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy – Eventually, we all surrender to love.
15) Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky – Anna just wanted her love to be accepted.
14) Liu Guojiang and Xu Chaoqing - He carved 6,000 steps up a mountain for her. Wow!
13) Orpheus and Eurydice – He just had to look at her...
12) Niulang and Zhinü - Longing for each other on opposite sides of a river.
11) Pharoah Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari – He ensured that she was well-off even in the afterlife. How romantic!
10) Ed Leedskalnin and Agnes Scuffs – He would have given her the moon and stars but she wouldn't have it. So he went mad, made a home and lived in solitude.
9) Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl - Romeo and Juliet, Aztec style; they both became volcanoes.
8) Lucille Ball and Ricky Ricardo – Tragic and toxic in the end but you could feel the love when he sang, “We're having a baby, my baby and me.”
7) Minnehaha and Hiawatha – Another Lucy moment – he carried his true love out of a river.
6) Jane Austen and Tom Lefroy – Perhaps not love, love, but Lefroy sparked something in Austen that would birth the chick-flick genre.
5) Paris and Helen – Umm...he started a battle for her.
4) Devdas and Paro – He died at her doorstep and she couldn't see him in time; always a tearjerker.
3) Odysseus and Penelope – Can you imagine turning down 100+ suitors or ethereal temptations after twenty years?!
2) Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal – He built the Taj Mahal in her memory – enough said.
1) Romeo and Juliet – Cliché maybe, but the story of the two-crossed lovers is forever etched in our minds and hearts; it's timeless.
Love is unconventional and unique. Hopefully, all of these tales will be set in the canon of love for time immemorial. But a word of advice to my gentlemen friends, nothing says love more than monuments, apparently; actions will always speak louder than sweet utterings. Let Shahjahan, Ed Leedskalnin, Pharoah Ramesses II, and Liu Guojiang (especially Liu) be your guides – hint, hint!
Nicole Rodgers has been blogging for 3 years. She covers various topics ranging from setting up a brokerage account to how to prep for the DMV test.
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