romantic love

thumb|Romeo and Juliet, by [[Frank Dicksee, considered to be the archetypal romantic couple, depicting the play's iconic balcony scene]]

Romance and romantic love came to encompass a number of ideas about love, which are interrelated for historical and cultural reasons: passionate feelings of attraction—a mental state of "being in love", with focused attention (salience) towards a specific individual for courtship or pair bonding; the cultural practice or idealization of initiating intimate relationships for feelings like these, over more practical or ordinary concerns; a relationship or love affair initiated or maintained this way, which may be premarital or absent a commitment; and a love story involving these elements.