Richard Lovelace

                                    Richard Lovelace - Kent Cavalier Poet

                                        Image courtesy of Noel Craggs, South-East History Boards


                            I am always fascinated by the use of poetry on war memorials. Discovered, thanks to a discussion on the South East History Boards that some lines by Richard Lovelace, the Cavalier Poet,
 ( 1618-1658 ) from the poem 'Grasshopper', are quoted on a plaque placed on a stone to mark 'The last stand of the Royalist Defenders of Maidstone' , facing  General Fairfax storming of the city on 1st June 1648. This phase of the Second Civil War was a precursor to the Siege of Colchester already covered by this blog..The lines are in fact the tenth and last verse of 'The Grass-hopper '


Thus richer then untempted Kings are we, 
    That asking nothing, nothing need : 
Though Lord of all what Seas imbrace ; yet he 
    That wants himselfe, is poore indeed. 

The memorial plaque goes on to read;

An extract from 'The Grasshopper'
By Kentish cavalier poet Richard Lovelace (1618-1658)
Who tore up the petition in favour of Parliament in 1641

     
These lines are strangely prophetic for a doomed Cavalier poet, most known for writing a poem about being a prisoner . Along with  another  dedicated to a chaste lover whom he left to go to war, who later marries another man after wrongly believing that the poet had been killed in action.           

                        Though Richard Lovelace was born at Woolwich in 1618, his family were from Kent, where they could be traced all the way back to Bethersden in the 14th century, His father, Sir William Lovelace, was killed at the siege of  Grolle/Grenlo as a mercenary with the Virginia Company 1627 .

  After being successful at Charterhouse, then Oxford University, Richard Lovelace had a play titled 'The Scholar ' performed in Oxford, which he wrote aged 16. He rose to popularity and fame receiving an MA . Richard Lovelace became part of the clique surrounding  Queen Henrietta, and served in the Scottish campaign in 1639-1640, returning to Kent afterwards where he wrote poetry and a play titled 'The Soldier'. In 1642, Lovelace delivered the (Royalist) Kentish Petition to Parliament, leading him to be jailed for seven weeks.

His exact movements during the Civil War are not known. It seems likely that he stayed in London for a few months then went abroad, spending time in the Low Countries and France. Possibly he was on bail, then decided to flee.  In 1646 Richard Lovelace was said to be wounded fighting for the French against the Spanish and returned to England in 1647.

  I have found an alternative timeline ;
  1646 Richard Lovelace was at Oxford, which surrendered to the Parliamentarians on 24th June 1646 though Royalists were permitted to leave via a formal evacuation. Lovelace then goes into exile and agrees to fight for the French. 

 -1648  Lovelace was wounded at Dunkirik

However both  1646 and 1648  saw fighting at Dunkirk between Spain and France, so easy to see where confusion occurs.

  Either way, by the Autumn of 1648 , Lovelace returned to England. He was imprisoned, in Peterhouse  Prison, in October 1648 and released in April 1649. A collection of his work 'Lucasta: Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs, &c to which is added Aramthan, A pastoral'. appeared in 1649.

Little further is known about Richard  Lovelace. As far as I can work out, he was barred from receiving any revenues from the Lovelace family's estates in Kent.  Lovelace seemed to have somehow survived in poverty, most likely spending the 1650's in London where he  died in  1657. He was buried at St. Bride's Church, which was destroyed in the Fire of London in 1666. His brother Dudley arranged for the publication of a further collection titled 'Lucasta Posthume Poems' in 1659.

 Richard Lovelace's most  famous poem must be 'To Althea from Prison', set to music and recorded by Folk-Rock luminaries Fairport Covention on their album ' Nine' (1972)  : Lovelace was jailed for seven weeks in 1642 for presenting the (Royalist ) Kentish Petition to Parliament, and was jailed again for a number of months in 1649. The last verse is particularly moving.


Stone walls doe not a prison make.
Nor iron bars a cage
Mines innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love
And in my soule are free
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty. 

Another well known work-and a  personal favourite of mine is- 'Song. To Lucasta. Going to the Warres'

                                   I
TELL me not (Sweet( I am unkinde,
   That from the Nunnerie
Of thy chaste breast, and quiet minde
  To Warre and Armes I flie.

                                  II

True; a new Mistresse now I chase,
    The first Foe in the Field'
And with a strong Faith imbrace
 A Sword, a Horse , a Shield.

                             III
Yes this Inconstancy is such,
  As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee (Deare) so much
Lov'd I not Honour more

The poem suggests that the man taking leave from the woman has not been pressed into fighting but somehow maintains that he has to go to fight, but as he loves 'Honour' more than anything else, has no real option.

The breasts of the woman left behind are called 'chaste' and 'likened' to a 'nunnerie'. Her mind is 'quiet' and  overall seems to embody a static existence closed from the physical realities of the world, detached from both physical love and combat. All that she can offer has now been overshadowed by chasing the 'First Foe in the Field' . Yet somehow there is 'Inconstancy', the soldier still feels caught between two potential mistresses, Love and War.

In my humble opinion this is a classic war poem. It's short, heart felt, not burdened with heavy obscure symbolism, doesn't preach, merely conveys the dilemma of a man due to leave for battle, which has re-occurred for centuries.

'Lucasta' herself seems to have been one Lucy Sachaverell, who married another man on hearing that Richard Lovelace had been killed in action at Dunkirk in 1646.  There is no record of Lovelace ever marrying.


SOURCES

Tim Kendal's blogpost on  Richard Lovelace

South East History Boards  ( Home page)  Discussion on Maidstone 1648

Archive Org   On line 1864 text of 'Lucasta The Poems of Richard Lovelace Esq.'

The Lovelace Family and its Connections  On line article from the Virginia History Society