To Lucasta. Going to the Warres
Tell me not, (sweet,) I am unkinde,That from the nunnerieOf thy chaste breast and quiet mindeTo warre and armes I flie.
True: a new Mistresse now I chase,The first foe in the field;And with a stronger faith imbraceA sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such,As you too shall adore;I could not love thee, dear, so much,Lov'd I not Honour more.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Lucasta. Going to the Warres 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 to the Warres, in Lucasta (1649), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #703, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lovelace-lucasta/to-lucasta-going-to-the-warres.html, id L25383.
Form and metre
To Lucasta. Going to the Warres is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB unkindeA · nunnerieB · mindeA · flieB
- 2 ABAB chaseA · fieldB · imbraceA · shieldB
- 3 ABAB suchA · adoreB · muchA · moreB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Tell me not, (sweet,) I am unkinde, | 8 | ········ |
| That from the nunnerie | 6 | ······ |
| Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To warre and armes I flie. | 6 | ······ |
| True: a new Mistresse now I chase, | 8 | ········ |
| The first foe in the field; | 6 | ······ |
| And with a stronger faith imbrace | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A sword, a horse, a shield. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet this inconstancy is such, | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| As you too shall adore; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I could not love thee, dear, so much, | 8 | ········ |
| Lov'd I not Honour more. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.