In this paper Hitschmann notes the reluctance to investigate and seriously consider romantic love. He raises the question, What is love?, and confines his considerations to love in the male. Freud's ideas and conception of love are reviewed. Some positive and negative reactions in psychoanalytic circles to Freud's ideas are commented upon. Reference is made to numerous figures prominent in the arts and letters. The problem of the relation of the state of being in love to certain states of religious feeling is discussed. Freud's comprehension of love is compared with certain attempts to define love as a mystic religious experience.