"The Scrutiny" and Other Poems Literary Elements

The speaker of most poems by Lovelace is a Cavalier who adopted the philosophy of carpe diem (seize the day) as their guide to existence. The perspective of this rakish gentlemen who rejects monogamy is usually from the first-person and most often directed toward—or is about—a specific individual.

Although Lovelace’s poetry is variable in terms of form and meter, for the most part he limits himself to writing monologues in which the speaker is often either literally presented as speaking to another person or is metaphorically situated as speaking in a soliloquy to himself though with the content directed toward an unseen person.

One of the most famous metaphors in the history of British poetry is found in “To Althea, From Prison” when the poem asserts “Stone walls do not a prison make, / Nor iron bars a cage”

The speaker begins his allusive identification in his confession of the “new mistress” he chases to his “Sweet” Lucasta with allusive alliteration: “The first foe in the field”

“To Althea, From Prison” is constructed around a conceit of irony: one can never truly be imprisoned as long as one’s thoughts are free to creatively transport him somewhere else.

For the most part, Lovelace works within the genre of dramatic monologue.

“To Althea, From Prison” is a titular setting that reflects upon autobiographical fact: he was imprisoned at Westminster Gatehouse for most of June 1642 and this poem originated from that unusual setting.

Most of the poet’s verse is written in a lighthearted tone reflective of the Cavalier devotion to living life as it comes at you. Even the poetry written in prison lacking the darkness one might expect.

Protagonist: King Charles I specifically and the concept of the monarchy in general in much of his poetry. Antagonist: Puritanism.

The major conflict underlining much of Lovelace’s poetry is the genuine conflict at the heart of the English Civil War taking place between 1642 and 1651 which pit Royalists against Parliamentarians in a bitter dispute encompassing politics, religion and civil rights, among other issues which are routinely addressed in his verse.

“The Scrutiny” climaxes with the speaker making one of the most spectacular risky gambles in the history of love poetry: promising that if, after testing the waters of all the other fish in the sea, he should discover that if the woman he is addressing turns out to be the most beautiful of them all, he will give his heart to her.

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Throughout the poetry of Lovelace can be found allusions to the ongoing British Civil War, often quite literally such as the causation of his writing to Althea from prison or the reasoning behind his writing to Lucasta of his going off to war.

Lucasta is the name of a woman who appears in a number of different poems by the author. Indeed, her name is usually found in the title. She is not to be considered a singular identifiable individual, but is rather an example of a universal ideal, a metonymic distillation of the universal down to the microcosmic.

From “The Ant”:” Forbear, thou great good husband, little ant; / A little respite from thy flood of sweat!”

From “Another”: “Behold LUCASTA'S face, how't glows like noon! / A sun intire is her complexion, / And form'd of one whole constellation.”

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