To Lucasta. Going Beyond the Seas
If to be absent were to beAway from thee;Or that when I am gone,You or I were alone;Then my LUCASTA might I cravePity from blustring winde or swallowing wave.
But I'le not sigh one blast or galeTo swell my saile,Or pay a teare to swageThe foaming blew-gods rage;For whether he will let me passeOr no, I'm still as happy as I was.
Though seas and land betwixt us both,Our faith and troth,Like separated soules,All time and space controules:Above the highest sphere wee meet,Unseene, unknowne, and greet as angels greet
So then we doe anticipateOur after-fate,And are alive i'th' skies,If thus our lips and eyesCan speake like spirits unconfin'dIn Heav'n, their earthy bodies left behind.
Words in this poem
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- passe a.
- Past; gone by; hence, past one's prime; worn; faded; as, a passée belle. Ld. Lytton. [F.]
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Lucasta. Going Beyond the Seas is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lucasta, Project Gutenberg ebook #703; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Richard Lovelace, To Lucasta. Going Beyond the Seas, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/to-lucasta-going-beyond-the-seas.html, id L25382.
Form and metre
To Lucasta. Going Beyond the Seas is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABBCC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA--BB beA · theeA · gone · alone · craveB · waveB
- 2 AA---- galeA · saileA · swage · rage · passe · was
- 3 AABBCC bothA · trothA · soulesB · controulesB · meetC · greetC
- 4 AABBCC anticipateA · fateA · skiesB · eyesB · unconfin'dC · behindC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If to be absent were to be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Away from thee; | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Or that when I am gone, | 6 | ······ |
| You or I were alone; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Then my LUCASTA might I crave | 8 | ········ |
| Pity from blustring winde or swallowing wave. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| But I'le not sigh one blast or gale | 9 | ········· |
| To swell my saile, | 5 | ····· |
| Or pay a teare to swage | 6 | ······ |
| The foaming blew-gods rage; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For whether he will let me passe | 9 | ········/ |
| Or no, I'm still as happy as I was. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Though seas and land betwixt us both, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Our faith and troth, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Like separated soules, | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| All time and space controules: | 6 | ······ |
| Above the highest sphere wee meet, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Unseene, unknowne, and greet as angels greet | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So then we doe anticipate | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Our after-fate, | 5 | /˘··· |
| And are alive i'th' skies, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| If thus our lips and eyes | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Can speake like spirits unconfin'd | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| In Heav'n, their earthy bodies left behind. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.