Introduction
As much as love and war are contrasting themes, the connection between them can be apparent in the devotion one can feel to either subject. In the modern world, where mass media influenced every aspect of our life, both terms differ from each other as much as they differ in their perception in people’s mind. Addressing the difference in this perception, the poem “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace is a perfect example of how love and war can be smoothly interconnected. This paper analyzes the aforementioned poem stating that historical period of the poem implied that going to war was an honor priority above one’s feelings as fulfilling the call of honor is the reason why people love.
Main body
The author starts his poem, by asserting his love for his mistress in calling her “Sweet”. It could be said in general, that the whole poem is based on contrasts. In the first verse, Lovelace shows that he deserves to be blamed. In that manner, Lovelace at first introduces the statement, and then he addresses the first stanza to explain the reason behind this statement. In the second and the third verse:
“That from the nunnery2
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind3”
The author uses figurative language to describe his mistress, where by using such words as nunnery, chaste, and quiet mind he explains the reason why he is unkind leaving her despite the aforementioned qualities and go to war. The contrast also can be obvious in the feel of sadness for leaving his mistress and the description of his excitement in going to the war, “To war and arms I fly”4, which is also an implementation of a figurative language.
The second stanza was devoted to describe the war which he called a mistress in the first verse. The usage of the word mistress was a metaphor, which he followed in the next verse as an explanation so that his mistress does no misunderstand him.
“And with a stronger faith embrace7
A sword, a horse, a shield8.”
In hose verses the author mixes figurative and literal language, so that he explains he describes his new affection, where he contrasts the sword, the horse and the shield, with the chaste breast and quiet mind from the first stanza. The whole stanza is a way of pulling the reader into believing that Lovelace substituted his love for other woman, but even after clarifying the subject he nevertheless states that he embraces his new “friends” with a stringer faith.
In the last stanza, Lovelace acknowledges what was said in previous stanzas is an “inconstancy” from his side. However, he also acknowledges that his mistress will understand him, “As thou too shalt adore”10. The author finishes the poem by stating the reason why his mistress should understand him, as his great love for her is because of his greater love for honor. In those verses the author also uses contrasts as well as using negative sentence to emphasize and enforce his statement.
From this poem it can be seen that author states his priorities putting honor above all. In that sense, the war for the author is a horrible thing as much as it is a call after which he will love his mistress even more by asserting his dignity.