Richard Lovelace (poet)

2025-10-30T15:15:25Z

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{{Short description|English writer and poet (1617–1658)}}

{{Infobox writer
| name = Richard Lovelace
| image = File:John de Critz the elder (1551-1552-1642) (attributed to) - Portrait of a Young Gentleman (possibly Richard Lovelace, 1617–1657, Royalist poet, alumnus of Glouc - 193 - Worcester College.jpg
| alt = Richard Lovelace
| caption = Richard Lovelace
| other_names =
| education =
| alma_mater = [[Gloucester College, Oxford|Gloucester Hall, Oxford]]
| movement = [[Cavalier poet]]
| period = [[English literature#Late Renaissance: 1625.E2.80.931660|Late English Renaissance]]
| resting_place =
| notablework = ''[[To Althea, from Prison]]''
| occupation = Poet
| nationality = English
| birth_date = {{birth date|1617|12|09|df=yes}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1657|||1617|12|09|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_place = [[London]], [[Kingdom of England|England]]
}}
'''Richard Lovelace''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ʌ|v|l|ə|s}}, [[homophone]] of "loveless";<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=Florance Alice Loveless Keeney |url=http://archive.org/details/lovelaceloveless00robe |title=The Lovelace-Loveless and allied families |date=1952 |publisher=[Culver City, Calif.] : [Murray & Gee] |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=viii–ix}}</ref> 9 December 1617 – 1657) was an English poet in the seventeenth century. He was a [[cavalier poet]] who fought on behalf of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] during the [[English Civil War]]. His best known works are "[[To Althea, from Prison]]", and "[[To Lucasta, Going to the Warres]]".

==Biography==

===Early life and family===
Richard Lovelace was born on 9 December 1617.<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB|first=Raymond A.|last=Anselment|title=Lovelace, Richard (1617–1657)|year=2004|edition=Online|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17056|access-date=16 October 2014|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/17056}} </ref> His exact birthplace is unknown, and may have been [[Woolwich]], Kent, or [[Holland]].<ref name="weidhorn">Weidhorn, Manfred. Richard Lovelace. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1970</ref> He was the oldest son of Sir William Lovelace and Anne Barne Lovelace. He had four brothers and three sisters. His father was from a distinguished military and legal family; the Lovelace family owned a considerable amount of property in Kent.

His father, Sir William Lovelace, was a member of the Virginia Company and an incorporator in the second [[Virginia Company]] in 1609. He was a soldier and died during the war with Spain and the Dutch Republic in the [[Siege of Groenlo (1627)]] a few days before the town fell. Richard was nine years old when his father died.<ref name="DLB"/><ref>Letters from Constantijn Huygens. Letter 3816. London, October 1644.</ref>

Lovelace's father was the son of Sir William Lovelace and Elizabeth Aucher, who was the daughter of Mabel Wroths and Edward Aucher, who inherited, under his father's will, the manors of [[Bishopsbourne]] and Hautsborne. Elizabeth's nephew was Sir [[Anthony Aucher]] (1614 – 31 May 1692) an English politician and Cavalier during the [[English Civil War]]. He was the son of her brother Sir Anthony Aucher and his wife Hester Collett.

Lovelace's mother, Anne Barne (1587–1633), was the daughter of Sir William Barne and the granddaughter of Sir [[George Barne III]] (1532–1593), the [[Lord Mayor of London]] and a prominent merchant and public official from London during the reign of [[Elizabeth I]] and Anne Gerrard, daughter of Sir [[William Garrard]], who was Lord Mayor of London in 1555.

Lovelace's maternal grandmother was Anne Sandys.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=The Virginia Magazine of History and biography|author=Virginia Historical Society|date=1921|volume=29|publisher=Virginia Historical Society.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tQRAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA227|pages=1–227|access-date=25 August 2015}}</ref> His great-grandmother was Cicely Wilford and his great-grandfather [[Most Reverend]] Dr [[Edwin Sandys (archbishop)|Edwin Sandys]], an [[Anglican]] church leader who successively held the posts of [[Bishop of Worcester]] (1559–1570), [[Bishop of London]] (1570–1576), and [[Archbishop of York]] (1576–1588) and was one of the translators of the [[Bishops' Bible]].

His mother, Anne Barne Lovelace, married as her second husband, on 20 January 1630, at [[Greenwich, England|Greenwich]], England, the Very Rev Dr [[Jonathan Browne]]. They were the parents of one child, Anne Browne, Richard's half-sister, who married [[Herbert Croft (bishop)|Herbert Croft]], later [[Bishop of Hereford]], and was the mother of [[Sir Herbert Croft, 1st Baronet|Sir Herbert Croft]], the first of the [[Croft baronets of Croft Castle (1671)|Croft baronets]].

Lovelace's brother, [[Francis Lovelace]] (1621–1675), was the second governor of the [[New York Colony]] appointed by the [[Duke of York]], later King [[James II of England]]. They were also great nephews of both [[George Sandys]]<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=A History of American Literature ...|author=Tyler, M.C.|date=1890|publisher=GP Putnam's Sons.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFgLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA52|page=52|access-date=25 August 2015}}</ref> (2 March 1577 – March 1644), an English traveller, colonist and poet; and of [[Edwin Sandys (died 1629)|Sir Edwin Sandys]]<ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England, Ireland and Scotland|author1=Burke, J.|author2=Burke, B.|date=1844|publisher=J. R. Smith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lF1tAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA468|page=468|access-date=25 August 2015}}</ref> (9 December 1561 – October 1629), an English statesman and one of the founders of the [[London Company]].

In 1629, when Lovelace was eleven, he went to Sutton's Foundation at [[Charterhouse School]], then in London.<ref name="weidhorn"/> There is no clear record that Lovelace actually attended; it is believed that he studied as a "boarder" because he did not need financial assistance like the "scholars".<ref name="weidhorn"/> He spent five years at Charterhouse, three of which were spent with [[Richard Crashaw]], who also became a poet. On 5 May 1631, Lovelace was sworn in as a Gentleman Wayter Extraordinary to [[Charles II of England|King Charles I]], an honorary position for which one paid a fee.<ref name="weidhorn"/> He went on to [[Gloucester College, Oxford|Gloucester Hall, Oxford]], in 1634.

==Collegiate career==
Lovelace attended the [[University of Oxford]] and was praised by his contemporary [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]]<ref name ="DLB">Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 131: Seventeenth-Century British Nondramatic Poets, Third Series. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by M. Thomas Hester, North Carolina State University. The Gale Group, 1993. pp. 123–133</ref> as "the most amiable and beautiful person that ever eye beheld; a person also of innate [[modesty]], virtue and courtly deportment, which made him then, but especially after, when he retired to the great city, much admired and adored by the female sex".

While at college, he tried to portray himself more as a social connoisseur than as a scholar, continuing his image of being a [[Cavalier]].<ref name="maus">''The Early Seventeenth Century'' The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Sixteenth Century, The Early Seventeenth Century. Ed. [[Barbara K. Lewalski]] and Katharine Eisaman Maus. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 1681–1682.</ref> Being a Cavalier poet, Lovelace wrote to praise a friend or fellow poet, to give advice in grief or love, to define a relationship, to articulate the precise amount of attention a man owes a woman, to celebrate beauty, and to persuade to love.<ref name="DLB"/> Lovelace wrote a comedy, ''The Scholars'', while at Oxford. He then left for the [[University of Cambridge]] for a few months, where he met [[George Goring, Lord Goring|Lord Goring]], who led him into political trouble.

At the age of eighteen he was granted the degree of [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] at Oxford University.<ref name=ODNB/>

==Politics and prison==
Lovelace's poetry was often influenced by his experiences with politics and association with important figures of his time. At the age of nineteen he contributed a verse to a volume of elegies commemorating Princess Katharine.<ref name="lovelace">Wilkinson, C.h., ed. The Poems of Richard Lovelace. Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford, 1963.</ref> In 1639 Lovelace joined the regiment of Lord Goring, serving first as a senior ensign and later as a captain in the [[Bishops' Wars]]. This experience inspired "Sonnet. To Generall Goring", the poem "[[To Lucasta, Going to the Warres]]" and the [[tragedy]] ''The Soldier''. On his return to his home in Kent in 1640, Lovelace served as a country gentleman and a justice of the peace, encountering civil turmoil over religion and politics.<ref name="lovelace"/>

In 1641, Lovelace led a group of men to seize and destroy a petition for the abolition of [[Anglicanism|Episcopal]] rule, which had been signed by 15,000 people. The following year he presented the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] with [[Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet|Dering's]] pro-[[Cavalier|Royalist]] petition which was supposed to have been burned. These actions resulted in Lovelace's first imprisonment.<ref name="lovelace"/> He was shortly released on bail, with the stipulation that he avoid communication with the House of Commons without permission. This prevented Lovelace, who had done everything to prove himself during the Bishops' Wars, from participating in the first phase of the [[English Civil War]]. This first experience of imprisonment brought him to write one of his best known lyrics, "[[To Althea, from Prison]]", in which he illustrates his noble and [[paradox]]ical nature. Lovelace did everything he could to remain in the king's favour despite his inability to participate in the war.

During the political chaos of 1648 he was again imprisoned, this time for nearly a year. When he was released in April 1649, the king had been executed and Lovelace's cause seemed lost. As in his previous incarceration, this experience led to creative production—this time in the cause of spiritual freedom, as reflected in the release of his first volume of poetry, ''Lucasta''.<ref name="lovelace"/> "Lucasta" was Lovelace's Muse, thought to be Lucy Sacheverell.

Lovelace died in 1657 and was buried in [[St Bride's Church]] in [[Fleet Street]] in the [[City of London]].

==Literature==
From the time Richard Lovelace started writing while he was a student at Oxford he wrote almost 200 poems. His first work was a drama, ''The Scholars'', never published but performed at college and then in London. In 1640, he wrote a tragedy, ''The Soldier'' based on his military experience. When serving in the Bishops' Wars, he wrote the sonnet "To Generall Goring", a poem of [[Bacchanal]]ian celebration rather than a glorification of military action. "[[To Lucasta, Going to the Warres]]", written in 1640, concerned his first political action. "To Althea, From Prison" was written during his first imprisonment in 1642. Later that year, during his travels to Holland with General Goring, he wrote ''The Rose'', followed by ''The Scrutiny''. On 14 May 1649, ''Lucasta'' was published. He also wrote poems on animal life: ''The Ant'', ''The Grasse-hopper'', ''The Snayl'', ''The Falcon'', ''The Toad and Spyder''. In 1660, after Lovelace died, ''Lucasta: Postume Poems'' was published; it contains ''A Mock-Song'', which has a darker tone than his previous works.<ref name="DLB"/>

[[William Winstanley]] thought highly of Lovelace's work and compared him to an idol: "I can compare no Man so like this Colonel Lovelace as Sir [[Philip Sidney]]" of which it is in an Epitaph made of him;
:Nor is it fit that more I should {{sic|hide=y|aquaint}}
: Lest Men adore in one
: A Scholar, {{sic|hide=y|Souldier}}, Lover, and a Saint<ref name="lovelace"/>

His most quoted excerpts are from the beginning of the last stanza of "To Althea, From Prison":

:Stone walls do not a prison make,
:Nor iron bars a cage;
:Minds innocent and quiet take
:That for an hermitage

and the end of "To Lucasta. Going to the Warres":

:I could not love thee, dear, so much,
:Lov'd I not Honour more.

==Chronology==
*1617 – On 9 December, Richard Lovelace is born, either in Woolwich, Kent, or in Holland.
*1629 – King Charles I nominated "Thomas [probably Richard] Lovelace", upon petition of Lovelace's mother, Anne Barne Lovelace, to Sutton's foundation at Charterhouse.
*1631 – On 5 May, Lovelace is made "Gentleman Wayter Extraordinary" to the King.
*1634 – On 27 June, he matriculates as [[Gentleman Commoner]] at Gloucester Hall, Oxford.
*1635 – Writes a comedy, ''The Scholars''.
*1636 – On 31 August, the degree of M.A. is presented to him.
*1637 – On 4 October, he enters Cambridge University.
*1638–1639 – His first printed poems appear: ''An Elegy'' on Princess Catherine, the daughter of Charles I; prefaces to several books.
*1639 – He is senior ensign in General Goring’s regiment – in the First Scottish Expedition. ''Sonnet to Goring''
*1640 – Commissioned captain in the Second Scottish Expedition; writes a tragedy, ''The Soldier'' (unperformed, unpublished and lost) and the poem "To Lucasta, Going to the Warres". He then returns home at 21, into the possession of his family’s property.
*1641 – Lovelace tears up a pro-Parliament, anti-Episcopacy petition at a meeting in Maidstone, Kent.
*1642 – 30 April, he presents the anti-Parliamentary Petition of Kent and is imprisoned at Gatehouse. In prison he perhaps writes he writes "To Althea, from Prison" and "To Lucasta, from Prison". After appealing, he is released on bail, 21 June. The Civil war begins on 22 August. In September, he goes to Holland with General Goring. He writes ''The Rose.''
*1642–1646 – Probably serves in Holland and France with General Goring. He writes "The Scrutiny".
*1643 – Sells some of his property to Richard Hulse.
*1646 – In October, he is wounded at Dunkirk, while fighting under the Great Conde against the Spaniards.
*1647 – He is admitted to the Freedom at the Painters' Company.
*1648 – On 4 February, ''Lucasta'' is licensed at the Stationer's Register. On 9 June, Lovelace is again imprisoned at Peterhouse.
*1649 – On 9 April, he is released from jail. He then sells the remaining family property and portraits to Richard Hulse. On 14 May, ''Lucasta: Epodes, Odes, Sonnets, Songs, &c., to which is added Aramantha, A Pastoral'' is published.
*1650–1657 – Lovelace's whereabouts unknown, though various poems are written.
*1657 – Lovelace dies in London.
*1659–1660 – ''Lucasta, Postume Poems'' is published.<ref name="weidhorn"/>

==Depictions==
His life was dramatised in the Australian radio play ''[[Lovelace (radio play)|Lovelace]]''.
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wikisource author-inline}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=361| name=Richard Lovelace}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Richard Lovelace}}
* {{Librivox author |id=596}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=John |title=Men of Kent and Kentishmen |date=1892 |publisher=Cross & Jackman |location=Canterbury |pages=92–93 |edition=Subscription |chapter=[[s:Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Richard Lovelace|Richard Lovelace]]}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelace, Richard}}
[[Category:1617 births]]
[[Category:1657 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Gloucester Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:People from Woolwich]]
[[Category:Lovelace family|Richard]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:17th-century English poets]]

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Richard Lovelace (poet)