Love
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,Guilty of dust and sin.But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slackFrom my first entrance in,Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioningIf I lack’d anything.
‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’Love said, ‘You shall be he.’‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,I cannot look on Thee.’Love took my hand and smiling did reply,‘Who made the eyes but I?’
‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shameGo where it doth deserve.’‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’‘My dear, then I will serve.’‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’So I did sit and eat.
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: George Herbert, Love, in Poems (1593–1632), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-george-herbert/love.html, id L16068.
Form and metre
Love is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC backA · sinB · slackA · inB · questioningC · anythingC
- 2 ABABCC hereA · heB · dearA · theeB · replyC · iC
- 3 ABABCC shameA · deserveB · blameA · serveB · meatC · eatC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Guilty of dust and sin. | 6 | /˘···· |
| But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| From my first entrance in, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| If I lack’d anything. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| ‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’ | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Love said, ‘You shall be he.’ | 6 | ······ |
| ‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| I cannot look on Thee.’ | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Love took my hand and smiling did reply, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| ‘Who made the eyes but I?’ | 6 | ······ |
| ‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame | 10 | ·········· |
| Go where it doth deserve.’ | 6 | ····˘/ |
| ‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’ | 10 | ·········· |
| ‘My dear, then I will serve.’ | 6 | ······ |
| ‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’ | 10 | ·········· |
| So I did sit and eat. | 6 | ······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.