To Lucasta, Going to the Wars, by the English poet Richard Lovelace, is one of the most famous lyrics in English literature. Lovelace is known as a Cavalier poet, an informal group that included the poets Robert Herrick, Sir John Suckling, and Thomas Carew. The term Cavalier indicates gallantry, and it also applies to supporters of King Charles I during the English Civil War of the 1640’s. Cavalier lyrics use the traditions of courtly love and gallantry, but they also display lightness, wit, and occasional cynicism.
“To Lucasta, Going to the Wars” uses the short rhythmic lines and concise language of the Cavaliers. But it also has a more serious subject, which is the speaker’s call to the battlefield. The lyric was published in the collection Lucasta (1649), which the poet prepared while in prison for his involvement in a royalist rebellion.
Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind, That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind To war and arms I fly. True, a new mistress now I chase, The first foe in the field; And with a stronger faith embrace A sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore; I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more.
Lovelace, like his fellow Cavalier poets, has rejected the more serious sonnet form of 14 lines in favor of short stanzas that have the quality of song. In fact, many of Lovelace’s lyrics were set to music. In true Cavalier fashion, the poetic speaker refers almost casually to his own ever-changing nature and interests. He compares his lady’s chastity to a “nunnery,” from which he flies to his exciting new “mistress”—war. He admits that he embraces the call of battle with “stronger faith” than he had toward his lady.
However, in the final stanza the speaker adopts a more serious tone, pointing to the call of “honour” in his rush to war. Loyalty to the king and eagerness to go to battle are part of the courtly tradition. But Lovelace does not use them lightly here. His speaker appeals to his lady to love him for his noble calling, and there is an urgency behind his famous concluding couplet: “I could not love thee, dear, so much, / Loved I not honour more.” That the soldier may not return from war is an unspoken possibility. His poem, therefore, also becomes a form of farewell.
For more information on Lovelace, see Lovelace, Richard. See also English literature (Metaphysical and Cavalier poets); Carew, Thomas; Herrick, Robert; Suckling, Sir John.
