Page 35 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Love Bade Me Welcome”
by George Herbert, page 13

Vocabulary
bade – directed, ordered
marred – flawed

1. In the first stanza, what or who is the “Love” to which Herbert refers? How do you know?

The “Love” that Herbert refers to is actually the Lord. We know this because shortly after,
in the third stanza, Herbert addresses the love he has been speaking to as Lord.

2. What is the term for renaming the subject in a poem, for example, calling the Lord “quick-
eyed Love” in the first stanza?

The term is epithet.

3. Why is the speaker hesitant to accept the Lord’s invitation to sit with him? Find an example
from each stanza.

In the first stanza, he is hesitant because he is “Guilty of dust and sin.” In the second, he
calls himself “unkind, [and] ungrateful.” Third, he admits his eyes have been “marred” by
sin.

4. Why does the Lord still invite the speaker to sit with him?

The Lord reminds the speaker of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and the practice of
communion: “And know you not…who bore the blame?” Since the speaker seems
repentant of his faults, and because of Christ’s sacrifice, the Lord still invites the speaker
to sit “…and taste My meat.”

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