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George Herbert (1593-1633)

Love (I)


              1Immortal Love, author of this great frame,
              2    Sprung from that beauty which can never fade,
              3    How hath man parcel'd out Thy glorious name,
              4And thrown it on that dust which Thou hast made,
              5While mortal love doth all the title gain!
              6    Which siding with Invention, they together
              7    Bear all the sway, possessing heart and brain,
              8(Thy workmanship) and give Thee share in neither.
              9Wit fancies beauty, beauty raiseth wit;
            10    The world is theirs, they two play out the game,
            11    Thou standing by: and though Thy glorious name
            12Wrought our deliverance from th' infernal pit,
            13Who sings Thy praise? Only a scarf or glove
            14Doth warm our hands, and make them write of love.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: George Herbert, The temple. Sacred poems and private ejaculations, edited by N. Ferrar (Cambridge: T. Buck and R. Daniel, 1633). STC 13183. Facs. edn. Menston: Scolar Press, 1968. PR 3507 T45 1633A. Also The Bodleian Manuscript of George Herbert's Poems: A Facsimile of Tanner 307, Introduced by Amy M. Charles and Mario A. Di Cesare. Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles and Reprints, 1984. PR 3507 T45 1984 Robarts Library.
First publication date: 1633
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2RP.1.315; RPO 1996-2000.
Recent editing: 2:2002/2/13

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg

Other poems by George Herbert

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