Richard Lovelace

Richard Lovelace, was born in 1618 and died in 657, London. He was a scholar, courtier to King Charles I, poet and soldier. A staunch Royalist, he assumed the studied behaviour of what we think of as a Cavalier; casual, witty, clever, high-achieving but lacking seriousness and true professionalism.

Lovelace was probably born in the Netherlands, where his father was in military service. He was educated at Charterhouse and Oxford, and at age 16 or possibly a little later he wrote ‘The Scholars’, a comedy of which only the prologue and a few fragments survive. He took part in the Royalist expeditions to Scotland in 1639–40, the period of the rebellions against Charles I.

He returned home and in 1642 presented a Royalist petition to a hostile House of Commons. He was imprisoned for this but, while incarcerated, he wrote ‘To Althea, from Prison.’ This poem contains the famous lines; ‘Stone walls do not a prison make/Nor iron bars a cage.’

The next four years were spent abroad, taking part in military campaigns on the side of the French against the Spanish. He was imprisoned again, during which time he wrote ‘ Lucasta.

Some reports claim that he died in poverty and though he had sold many of his assets, there is nothing to suggest that he suffered an unhappy death.

He is primarily known for ‘Lucasta; Posthume Poems of Richard Lovelace, Esq.’ (1659), edited by his brother Dudley, including Elegies, and dated 1660.