the scrutiny

Question 1

essence of the poem

Answer 1

Dramatic monologue in a carpe diem style aimed at his male coterie, convincing his lover that pursuing other beauties will strengthen their own relationship “if” he returns.

Question 2

Richard Lovelace

Answer 2

• born into an affluent, military family of the landed gentry
• legendary life as a soldier and cavalier poet, who fought on behalf of King Charles I during Civil War
• persecuted for his unflagging support, imprisoned several times
• at the time of civil war this poem is not just personal but evidently political - sexual liberty and the pursuit of pleasure = anti-puritan

Question 3

What is a cavalier poet?

Answer 3

royalists, loyal to monarch

Question 4

What did Anthony Wood say about him?

Answer 4

his contemporary at Oxford University: ‘the most amiable and beautiful person that ever eye beheld; a person also of innate modesty, virtue and courtly deportment which made him much admired and adored by the female sex.’

Question 5

Themes

Answer 5

carpe diem, rejection, faithfulness, infidelity, lust over love

Question 6

Rhyme Scheme

Answer 6

ABABB ABABB ABABB ABABB
very regular, logic feels calculated

Question 7

Metre

Answer 7

Metre alternates between iambic trimeter and iambic tetrameter, mirroring the speaker’s distrustfulness.

Question 8

Form

Answer 8

Rigidity of form frames speakers desires in a tight, constraining way, reflecting the speakers frustrations are being ‘foresworn’.
Stanza 1 + 2 = past
Stanza 3 = present
Stanza 4 = future
All temporal needs of the speaker are considered

Question 9

‘Why should you swear I am forsworn’

Answer 9

-In medias res, responding to an accusation of unfaithfulness
-Repetition of ‘I’ is patronising as well highlighting the speaker’s entitlement and selfishness.
-Rhetorical question heightens the arrogant tone of the speaker

Question 10

‘Lady it is already morn’

Answer 10

-Cold addressal, emphasised by trochaic foot (stressed/unstressed), distances himself from previous night of intimacy
-Short lines imply speakers frustration on the topic

Question 11

‘Have I not love thee much and long, A tedious twelve hours space?’

Answer 11

• Uses apostrophe like ‘To his Coy Mistress’ by addressing an absent or silent woman, enforced by rhetorical questions. Represents the expected passivity of females - link to Rebecca
• Hyperbolic, emphasises length of time
  -Alliteration slows down the pace, reflecting the duration and tedium of 12 hours
• Euphemism for manhood, implies lady is ungrateful and unappreciative

Question 12

‘I must all other Beauties wrong, And rob thee of a new embrace’

Answer 12

• reverse psychology = manipulative
• capitalisation of ‘Beauties’ reinforces the objectification of women

Question 13

‘but all joy in thy brown hair’

Answer 13

reduction of woman to hair, objectification

Question 14

‘But I must search the black and fair Like skilful mineralists that sound For treasure in un-plowed-up ground.’

Answer 14

-‘must’ is imperative, sense of duty
- simile compares himself to a geologist, elevating the status of the male speaker
-‘un-plowed-up’ slows pace, labour is long and strenuous
-references a virgin, presents the rewards to be valuable and highly sort after, reflecting the societal valuation of virginity, objectifies women yet also a form of flattery

Question 15

‘Then, if I have loved my round’

Answer 15

conditional clause ‘if’ magnifies unlikeliness of him returning by hypotheticality

Question 16

‘With spoils of meaner Beauties crowned’

Answer 16

• ‘spoils’ links to the idea of battle, women are merely conquests

Question 17

‘Ev’n sated with variety.’

Answer 17

• sated = satisfied to the full, image of gluttony and greed
• implies strength and benefits from sexual adventures elsewhere
• short term, contrasts to long-term outlook of entire poem

Question 18

Title

Answer 18

‘Scrutiny’ = intense examination

Question 19

when was the poem written? what were attitudes towards love at the time?

Answer 19

1642, during the neo-classical period