Richard Lovelace

The Author: a Poet and Soldier
Richard Lovelace (1618-1657) was a dashing, handsome, well-educated English gentleman who, as a soldier and poet, strongly defended Britain's King Charles I during the Bishops' Wars in Scotland (1639-1640) and the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). Lovelace held inherited estates in Kent and freely used his personal resources to support the king's causes. He became famous as one of the cavalier poets, who were refined, cultured, fashionably dressed gentlemen—the very definition of cavalier..
Who Is Lucasta?
The identity of the woman to whom Lovelace addresses the poem is uncertain; she may even have been a product of Lovelace's imagination. However, evidence suggests she was Lucy Sacheverell, whom he sometimes called by the Latin name Lux Casta. Lux, a noun, means light; casta, an adjective, means chaste, moral, virtuous, pure, sacred. Thus, Lux Casta may be translated as Pure Light or Sacred Light.

End Rhyme
In each stanza the first line rhymes with the third and the second with the fourth.
Internal Rhyme
Examples of rhyming sounds within are the following:
Line 1:...Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
Line 2:...from the nunnery
Line 5:...True, a new
Line 7:...faith embrace
Line 8:...A sword, a horse, a shield.
Line 10: thou too shalt adoreTone
.......The tone of the poem is light and pleasant.

Notes
1...nunnery: Convent or cloister for nuns.
2...mistress: War, combat; the enemy.
3..inconstancy: Unfaithfulness or inattention.


Figures of Speech
.......Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem.
Alliteration
Line 5:..a new mistress now I chase
Line 6:..The first foe in the field
Line 9:..this inconstancy is such Anaphora Line 8: A sword, a horse, a shield Metaphor


Line 5-6: True, a new mistress now I chase,
..............The first foe in the field
Comparison of the enemy to a mistress
Line 11-12: I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honor more.
Implied comparison of Honor to a beloved woman. (Note that Honor is capitalized,
like Dear, making it a rival for the speakers affections
Richard Lovelace (1618–1657) was an English poet in the seventeenth century. He was a cavalier poet who fought on behalf of the king during the Civil War. His best known works are "To Althea, from Prison," and "To Lucasta, Going to the Wares."