To Lucasta, Going to Wars Summary
Richard Lovelace

To Lucasta, Going to Wars Overview

“To Lucasta, Going to the Wars” is a poem by the cavalier poet Richard Lovelace. The poem is sometimes published under the alternate title, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars,” and the original title was “To Lucasta, Going to the Warres.” Lovelace authored the poem in 1640, and it was first published in 1649 in a collection entitled Lucasta. Another poem, titled “To Lucasta, Going beyond the Seas,” appears in the same collection. Lucasta was probably not a real woman, but instead an ideal of chivalric devotion, allowing the poem’s central theme of dedication to a cause beyond anything else to resonate with the reader.