Lucasta (1649) is the collection of poems by Richard Lovelace, published the year Charles I was executed. It contains To Lucasta, Going to the Wars and To Althea, from Prison, models of the elegant Cavalier lyric.
The collection
Lucasta: Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs, &c. was licensed in 1648 while Lovelace was in prison, and published in 1649. Many of its poems are addressed to Lucasta, an idealised lady.
Besides love poems, it includes poems on friendship, on animals such as the grasshopper and the snail, and on painting.
To Althea, from Prison
Written in the Gatehouse prison at Westminster in 1642, the poem argues that a free mind and a loyal heart cannot be imprisoned, whatever the walls.
Its fourth stanza became one of the most quoted passages of seventeenth-century poetry.
To Lucasta, Going to the Wars
In twelve short lines, the poet tells his beloved that he leaves her for war because honour comes first, and that she would not love him so well if he did not.
Its closing paradox, that he could not love her so much if he did not love honour more, made it a classic of the Cavalier ideal.
Anecdotes
Licensed in prison
The collection was licensed for publication on 4 February 1648, while Lovelace was imprisoned again, during the Second Civil War.
The Grasshopper
The ode The Grasshopper, addressed to his friend Charles Cotton, uses the insect frozen by winter as an image of the royalists after the king's defeat.
Frequently asked questions
When was Lucasta published?
In 1649.
Who is Lucasta?
An idealised lady, traditionally identified with Lucy Sacheverell.
Was there a second volume?
Yes, Lucasta: Posthume Poems, published by his brother Dudley in 1659–1660.