The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: "Love (III)." Herbert, George. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44367/love-iii.

Note that all parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

George Herbert was a seventeenth-century English poet and priest in the Church of England. His work is often associated with the metaphysical movement, which tended to engage with the relationship between earthly and spiritual existence in a highly intellectualized form. The most famous metaphysical poet from this era was Herbert's contemporary, John Donne, whose work has been popularly canonized for decades. Within this metaphysical genre, Herbert is also known as a devotional poet, meaning that the majority of his poems express interest in and dedication to serving God.

"Love (III)" is a dramatization of a conversation between an unnamed speaker (presumably, a sinner encountering the afterlife) and Love, or God. The poem is metaphysical in nature in that it conflates erotic and spiritual love, using a romantic and seductive tone while describing an interaction between the speaker and the divine. The poem ultimately functions as evidence of God's unconditional love for man despite his flaws and original sin.