Soul Mate and Poetry

The earliest known use of soul mate is found in an 1822 letter from English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge to "a Young Lady" in which he writes, "To be happy in Marriage Life, nay … in order not to be miserable, you must have a Soul-mate as well as a House or a Yoke-mate…." The word yokemate is used to refer to someone who is figuratively yoked to another, such as a close associate or companion, or, as Coleridge uses the word, a spouse. Coleridge's advice to the recipient of his letter, then, is that she should not simply settle for a husband, but rather for a person whose character and sensibilities are of a nature suitable to her own. Soul mate is now often used by English speakers to describe those with whom our bonds of affection are marked by a strong sense of like-mindedness and intertwined affinities.

Examples of soul mate in a Sentence

a husband and wife who are perfect soul mates They are ideological soul mates.

Recent Examples on the Web But as Tuesday’s heartfelt hour eventually revealed, the woman in question turned out to be the fan-favorite choice: Kevin’s on-and-off love but forever soul mate, Sophie. — Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Apr. 2022 The series centers on Joe, your everyday guy who wants to find a soul mate, but thinks both his traumatic childhood and search for love justifies him killing a bunch of people. — Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2021 In the meantime, the brain is trying to solve the problem of locating the lost soul mate, and this triggers waves of grief. — Annette Mcgivney, Outside Online, 4 Apr. 2022 And so Trinity transitions from devoted spouse to a universal counterbalance: a true soul mate. — Robert Daniels, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2021 Lambert's Mutt Match quiz is designed to help people find their shelter dog soul mate based on their lifestyle and personality. — Greta Bjornson, PEOPLE.com, 15 Feb. 2022 The fate of the symbolic Dragon, pursued to his castle by self-righteous cybervigilantes, is suddenly upstaged by Suzu’s literal-minded determination to find the human soul mate behind the suffering avatar. — Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 13 Jan. 2022 For all Clayton knows, Jill or Hunter or Lyndsey could be his soul mate. — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 1 Feb. 2022 Spielberg crafts Elgort’s boyish qualities effectively, like a pubescent E.T. meeting his soul mate in Zegler, whose Bujold-like yearning also seems otherworldly. — Armond White, National Review, 10 Dec. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'soul mate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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