TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breasts, 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.
To Lucasta, On Going To The Wars by Richard Lovelace • 144 poems by Richard LovelaceEdit
Poetry Classics
← Back to top 100 poetry classics
Our poetry classics archive is reproduced for educational purposes by volunteers, and is provided at no charge. Some poems are public domain, but many are the property of their respective owners. DMCA
- by Richard Lovelace • 144 poems
-
x 3,
2903
views,
6 comments,
14 lines,
print
- Add to my list
His play The Scholar was acted in Oxford in 1636 and drew the attention of
King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria. Following this Lovelace took part in the King's military expeditions to Scotland in 1639-40. However, when this campaign failed, he returned to Kent.
In 1642 he was briefly imprisoned for having presented to Parliament a petition for the restoration of the Anglican bishops who had been excluded from the Long Parliament. Whilst in prison, Lovelace wrote his well known piece To Althea, From Prison .
In the years following his release he served with the French army during the English civil war and was later imprisoned by the Commonweal
In lists
- Bookmarks - Little Andi / 59 >>
← All by Richard Lovelace →
By Richard Lovelace, © 1634, All rights reserved.
→ Show additional poem info
- From guest Tracy (contact)
I hope that my comments will benefit all who love this wonderful poem. In my opinion the soldier begins by expressing his absolutely, chivalrous,male view of a woman. His first description of her is "sweet" and he fears that this innocent female will not understand his reasons for going to war and will think less of him (I am unkind). He doesn't think that she is capable of understanding his need to fight because she is so good (his use of nunnery implies that she knows nothing of evil and is sacred to him.He associates her with God). He believes in his heart that she is pure (chaste) and peace loving (quiet mind). He is knows that he is leaving something that he regards as beautiful for something wretched and ugly (to war and arms I fly). His use of the word true may not be as it first seems, but could be a term to address her as in ,my true love. He is also firmly stating his absolute committment to fighting this war (a new mistress now I chase). This foe (war) is the first thing to come between them but he cannot resist what he believes is his duty. His use of the word faith again implies a religious sentiment regarding what he is about emabark upon. His faith is also belief in his very honourable intentions and that faith is unshakeable. He has embraced this new mistress in the knowledge that it is the very opposite of all that he loves and admires in her. His new mistress is a foe his beloved is Sweet. He is aware of this huge contradiction between the two most important things in his life. The last verse explains that he knows that this woman has great depth and love inside her. He knows that if he can make her understand she will love his reason for leaving her as much as he loves it. He is telling her that he is filled with love for doing what is right. He knows that he may be sacrificing his life and could forsake a beautiful relationship with her. However, if he did not have such depth of character or love of what is right, his love for her would not and could not be as deep as it is. He is not a shallow or selfish man, but a man prepared to sacrifice everything to be honourable. He knows that this depth is also inside her and so she will come to terms with his departure and respect him for it. Their love will only grow in strength. If you can imagine a cause that you would die for, or a situation where you would sacrifice your own life, then you will understand the soldiers words. I did this poem many years ago at school and loved it then. It gets better as you get older and you see all that is wrong in the world. I wish that there were more men like this in todays world. - actually, lucasta comes from latin lux casta meaning "light of virtue"
For guest Drake
To paraphrase a very old cliche. You show me your annotation and I'll show you mine
Jimannotating this poem
From guest Drake (contact)
can anyone give me a line by line annotation of this poem? i'm also doing an essay and i need to compare my annotation to someone elses to make sure i got it right. Thanks!- From guest bre (contact)
im writing a essay for my AP class over this poem. what is he comparing? his love for a women and war??
A Russian translation
From guest Alexey (contact)
Не обессудь, любовь моя, Не заслужил я брани, Что от любви и ласки я Лечу на поле брани. И правда, в сердце у меня Сегодня страсть иная - Рукою верного коня И меч я обнимаю. Непостоянства моего Не бойся, будь смелее. Тебе я верен оттого, Что долгу я вернее.- Given the fact that Lovelace was only 17 in 1635 what I say here is conjecture.
He was a "junior cavalier" at that time but that was probably only a nominal title as he was just starting his undergraduate education.
He did fight (and gain promotion) in the Bishop's War in 1639-40 for the King so possibly this is the war and the date is incorrect.
He wrote most of Lucasta in 1640 and it was published in 1649.
Jim Maryam
We are all volunteers working on this site, spending hour upon hour researching and adding poets and their works.
We are not willing or able to do homework for you, that's your job. Use our resources here but the analysis is yours alone.
You will achieve so much for yourself by doing the work yourself. As for comments, they are placed there by any reader who feels like making comment.
If comments exist then please read theml they may be useful to you.
Good Luck in your studies.
Von - Oldpoetry- From guest maryam (contact)
would you please put more analysis or scholars' comments on the poem as soon as possible?i am really in need of such information.tnx an awesome poem
From guest Sarah Khayal (contact)
When Dr.Akram Habeeb,who gives us a metaphysical poetry course in the Islamic University of Gaza, told us to prepare a new poem Richard lovelace's poem "To Lucasata", i wondered what which "To Lucasta", is it "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars" or "To Lucasta, Going Beyond the Seas". So eventually, i decided to read the two and to make a comparison between both of them, so it would be a very interesting task and at the same time i would get much out of doing this. But before lunching, i prefered to read some biographical notes about Richard Lovelace himself, because it is the first time for me to a read a poem for him. Throughout browsing via websites, i got learned that Lovelace was wan of the most prominent Cavalier poets of the seventeenth century England, who was passionately dedicated to the royalist cause, and he was imprisoned twice for defending King Charles1. Then I started by reading "To Lucasta, going to the wars", actually, the title aroused a question into my mind, as i asked myself ,"who is Lucasta" it is for sure a name of a woman, but what kind of women?, is it a name for his mother,daughter, wife, or his girlfriend?. But, from reading the biographical information before, i knew that "Lucasta"is a name for a lady to whom Richard Lovelace had a love affair, this lady was called Lucy Sacheverel and i also knew that this lady,unfortunately, did not get married to Lovelace because she mistakenly thought that he was killed in the Battle of Dunkirk, so she got married to another man. I liked this poem from the deepest of my heart, because i found it clear and easy to be understood. I personally believe that the poet in this poem is trying to tell his beloved or his wife that he is going to the war, and he is commanding her not to charge him of being cruel or unkind for leaving her alone, but she must appreciate what he is doing, because he won't be able to love her truly, if he cannot love honor first. The line which i admired most in this poem is when the poet says, "Anew mistress now i chase." I think that he's personifyingthe war by decribing it as a new lover or mistress; it is,undoubtly, the biggest and the central conceit in this poem. Actually, I liked this poem loads because it's very unique and different from other previous poems which we have already studied, i liked also its subject matter as i guessed that the poet is trying to convey the message that love is not the most important thing in life, as there are many things which are of much importance, such as honor, duty, patriotism and dignity. When I finished reading To Lucasta,goint to the wars, I moved to the other poem for Richard Lovelace, which has merely a similar title, "To Lucasta, Going Beyond the Seas." After reading thepoem for just two time, i immediately felt that this poem has a very strong connection with John Donne's" Valediction Forbidden Mourning" as both poets are trying to assure or to calm their lovers down by saying that despite their physical separation and inspite of the space and the lands and the seas which stand between them, they are still together spiritually and intellcetually. I appreciate the poet's use of keywords like, "If, but, or ,then...etc" in order to give evidence or to justify his argument. I liked much the whole second stanza, because i felt that the poet is trying to tell his lover that he is not going to mourn or to grive their separation, in contrary, he will be still happy, because he has a strong faith that if they are now aparted on this earthly world, they will surely meet each other again in heaven. I liked the line when Lovelace says, "Unseen, Unknown, and greet as angels greet" it's a very amazing simile.Finally, i want to say that i found this poem very interesting one, not just for its simpleness but because of its graceful melody, as i think that it is a lyrical poem which can be sung. thanks, SarahSuperb
This piece has the same ring to it as a song I once heard about a rodeo cowboy. He hung up his spurs to raise a family, but the arena called him back. very sad, yet very human.- Ah! I remember reading this in high school. It was the first poem that I read in school which seemed to be as uncliched as possible. When I couldn't stand Shakespeare and others, Lovelace was there. I don't know what it is I like so much about him or this piece, but he had this simplicity and truth. I think I love that. Well, this is a great love poem.
-Renee
