Love (I)
Love (I)
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.
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.
Publication Start Year
1633
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
2RP.1.315; RPO 1996-2000.
Rhyme
Form