By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Scrutiny’ is a poem by Richard Lovelace (1617-57), one of the leading Cavalier poets of the seventeenth century. The poem is essentially a defence of ‘playing the field’ and a renunciation of the poet’s former declaration of faithfulness to his lover. Below is ‘The Scrutiny’ and a few words by way of analysis.
The Scrutiny
Why should you swear I am forsworn,
Since thine I vowed to be?
Lady, it is already morn,
And ’twas last night I swore to thee
That fond impossibility.
Have I not loved thee much and long,
A tedious twelve hours’ space?
I must all other beauties wrong,
And rob thee of a new embrace,
Could I still dote upon thy face.