An explication of the poem “Love (III)” by George Herbert (1593-1632). Originally done as an assignment for an English class.
"Love (III)", a lyrical poem written in the 17th century by poet George Herbert, is part of a sequence of three poems, focusing on the topic of love. "Love (III)", in particular, zeroes-in-on sacred love, personifying love with speech between a true believer and God. Here, God is seen as an inviting lover that explains the worthiness of Love.
The poem has three stanzas with six lines each, arranged in iambic pentameter in one line, followed by the next line in iambic trimeter, and so forth. It has an ABABCC rhyme scheme, using mostly perfect and rich rhymes, with a few half-rhymes here and there, a few elided rhymes as in “answer’d (line 7)” and “marr’d (line 13),” a plethora of caesurae, a religious, guilty, and yet surprisingly gentle tone, as indicated by the keywords such as “dust and sin,” “sweetly questioning,” “my dear,” etc. Most of the lines within the poem are end-stopped, however, some of the lines (3, 5, and 13) are enjambed. The two main characters are Love, aka God, and the speaker, who is a guest in the home of God.
Throughout the poem, “Love” is a metaphor for God and the kind acceptance of God, and it is also a personification, as Love is seen to do many humanly things, such as bidding the guest welcome, taking the guest’s hand, and smiling. Alliteration is also seen within the poem in line 9, where the speaker calls himself “unkind, ungrateful,” line 14 where the speaker says he “doth deserve” to go to Hell, and in line 15 when Love asks who “bore the blame.” Furthermore, love, religion, and the relationship between these two are central themes in Love "(III)". The shame on the account of the man’s sin quickly changes to that of acceptance of the kindness of God’s forgiveness and his eternal love.
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