To Lucasta, Going To The Wars Analysis

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.

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This webiste have both positive and negative reviews, i personally things i pretty good,
Connie

| Posted on 2009-11-17 | by a guest

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Whoever A is that ATTEMPTED to leave an analysis on this poem in january 2009 don;t analyze anything any more. you have the whole thing wrong.

| Posted on 2009-11-03 | by a guest

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you, know.. in literature..let me tell you evry thng which is sharp or pointed in sahpe.. it only symbolizes as smthng "you knw" a boy thng ..haha lol, ahhmm.. this poem is actually describing a sex interorse, aha.. yuh.. as you noticed the horse.. horse is the movement.. mistrss is the woman hvng sex with..war is the sex. nunnery is being innocent.. just do realize the poem it's about sex aha..oppZzz:p

| Posted on 2009-10-07 | by a guest

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you, know.. in literature..let me tell you evry thng which is sharp or pointed in sahpe.. it only symbolizes as smthng "you knw" a boy thng ..haha lol, ahhmm.. this poem is actually describing a sex interorse, aha.. yuh.. as you noticed the horse.. horse is the movement.. mistrss is the woman hvng sex with..war is the sex. nunnery is being innocent.. just do realize the poem it's about sex aha..oppZzz:p

| Posted on 2009-10-07 | by a guest

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you, know.. in literature..let me tell you evry thng which is sharp or pointed in sahpe.. it only symbolizes as smthng "you knw" a boy thng ..haha lol, ahhmm.. this poem is actually describing a sex interorse, aha.. yuh.. as you noticed the horse.. horse is the movement.. mistrss is the woman hvng sex with..war is the sex. nunnery is being innocent.. just do realize the poem it's about sex aha..oppZzz:p

| Posted on 2009-10-07 | by a guest

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The speaker above hit the nail on the head, I think. I'm pretty sure his new mistress is supposed to be honor, but there's a double meaning as well. He's complimenting Lucasta, saying that he loves her because he loves honor, and she is honorable. Likewise, his honor dictates that he has to fight for his country.

| Posted on 2009-10-01 | by a guest

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Geez...i'm tryin to understand the freakin annoying poem here.. and everyone has a different explanation.
omg. i come here to understand, NOt to freakin read all these and figure it out myself.
please someone. just freakin give us the coreect analysis for godsake. i'll realy appreciate it thank you

| Posted on 2009-08-25 | by a guest

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There is a conflict between love and honor (the speaker is touring but he chooses honor giving it priority. The poem is based on paradoxes: how he is leaving his beloved and claim that he is faithful? The paradox is resolved in the poem. There is a blending between words pertaining to war and words pertaining to love (using love terms and applying them to war). This is a play on words= Pun new mistress. First foe he meets in the field. He admits that he is leaving her to chase another mistress.
Embracing: is used here for weapons. The speaker appears very courageous in the battle field, in 2nd stanza (first foe: he will run after the first enemy he sees and defeat him). This meaning is emphasized by throwing alliteration “first, foe, field”= this shows his bravery for fighting for the king cause before going, he explains for his beloved why is he leaving? The lover appears to be faithful in first stanza. Directly he addresses her to not accuse him that he is unkind and unfaithful b/c. I am leaving you to go to war. The lady for him is so great, true, chaste and of a great value. Nunnery is a metaphor; mind and breast are a metonymy of her. Quiet= pure. Nunnery is a quiet place where we find chaste people. In the last line of the 1st stanza, he also shows his courage. He doesn’t go dragging himself to war but flying. Chase, embrace = metaphors the first 2 stanzas present the situation.
The 3rd stanza = conclusion. I love this inconstancy and you should love it. The speaker said that the lady should love an honorable man). The speaker appears a good lover but call to duty as more important for him = conflict between the two ideas of love and honor. The whole poem is an apostrophe: the speaker addresses his beloved to present the situation.

| Posted on 2009-05-29 | by a guest

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Holy hell the first person to post on this thing is a dumbass.

| Posted on 2009-05-03 | by a guest

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well, i believe lucasta right is potraying a view of honour and war right, he glorifies war right, therdfore honouring right, to be fair right, lucasta right is potraying how war is right glorifccation right, well what can i say right, its about honour right, and glorification right, therefore glorifcation right, well right, on the whole right, i based my essay on theme i wrote above right, about glorifcation and honour righjt in my summary of the poem right, any1 else agree right?

| Posted on 2009-04-29 | by a guest

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I don't agree. Neither honor nor Lucasta are his mistress. I strongly suspect he's talking about the first foe in the field. Think about it. You'll get it.

| Posted on 2009-04-14 | by a guest

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In his bittersweet poem “To Lucasta,” Lovelace manages to relay to the reader the terrible contrast between love and war through diction. Lovelace first does this by introducing the theme of love using only positive diction. For example, he calls his mistress “Sweet” which is, in my opinion, one of the most loving names one could call someone. This shows that he is affectionate with his mistress. In the second line, he describes the “nunnery of thy chaste breast and quiet mind” in which he has been sheltered and nurtured. Here, the adjectives chaste and quiet illustrate the innocence, purity, and incorruptness of the narrator’s mistress.
In the next line the narrator introduces the theme of war but it is not until the following stanza that the narrator’s diction provides the sharp contrast between the initial theme of love and the ending theme of war. In the first line of the second stanza the narrator announces, “a new mistress now I chase.” This is said in such a way, using the word “mistress”, which is commonly used to refer to one’s lover, that Lovelace fools the reader into believing that he is being unfaithful to his current mistress. However, in the following line, he clarifies his previous statement by articulating that his new mistress will be his first victim of war. The third line of the second stanza is my favorite yet because the narrator’s diction plays off of his previous diction; he says that “with a stronger faith embrace a sword, a horse, a shield.” “Faith plays off of “chaste” and “embrace” plays off of “nunnery”. In this way, Lovelace contrasts the warm atmosphere of his mistress’ nunnery with the harshness of war.
In the third and final quatrain, Lovelace acknowledges his infidelity (“inconstancy”) and ends the poem simply by conceding that he can only love his mistress because of his greater love for honor. Though it may seem a bit harsh, the narrator pauses his final thought to clarify that he does not mean to be; he calls his mistress “Dear.” Overall, the diction throughout the poem reinforces both the positive and negative in the poem, love and war.

| Posted on 2009-01-20 | by a guest

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honor IS his "new mistress," not an actual person

| Posted on 2009-01-19 | by a guest

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Richard Lovelace’s poem, “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars”, is about a soldier untroubled about his love that he left at home because of his new mistress at battle. The soldier is selfish and cares more about what he wants, than the mistress waiting for him at home. The soldier only cares about what he lusts for, so with time spent away from home he loses his loyalty and chases a new girl.
-A

| Posted on 2009-01-16 | by a guest

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this is probably the most uninventive, unhelpful and boring website that i have ever set my eyes upon. to be honest this is another 3 minutes wasted of my life. i hope that you understand the reprcussions on which you have set upon this poor unfortunate manchild. Good day to you sir.

| Posted on 2009-01-12 | by a guest

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this is probably the most uninventive, unhelpful and boring website that i have ever set my eyes upon. to be honest this is another 3 minutes wasted of my life. i hope that you understand the reprcussions on which you have set upon this poor unfortunate manchild. Good day to you sir.

| Posted on 2009-01-12 | by a guest

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this is probably the most uninventive, unhelpful and boring website that i have ever set my eyes upon. to be honest this is another 3 minutes wasted of my life. i hope that you understand the reprcussions on which you have set upon this poor unfortunate manchild. Good day to you sir.

| Posted on 2009-01-12 | by a guest

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The speaker is able to love this woman more because it is his greater honor that let him be able to go to war and leave her behind

| Posted on 2008-03-09 | by a guest