The Scrutiny

• What type of poet was Richard Lovelace?

  A Cavalier poet who wrote for King Charles I. Cavalier poets had an abundance of wit, an obsession with love and beauty with a 'seize the day' attitude directed towards women mostly.
• What is the structure of 'The Scrutiny'?

  ABABB - the songlike form seems as if the speaker is mocking the woman for the assumption that he would stay with her beyond the night.
• 'Lady'


  Cold, distancing himself from his former amorous words. Contrasts the intimacy of the prior night.
• 'Fond impossibility'


  His fondness has vanished with dawn, but hers lingers on.
• 'It is already morn'


  trying to make it seem as if last night was a long time ago.
• Repetition of 'i' suggests that the speaker would put his own desires over hers
• 'A tedious twelve hours'

  An attempt to put her down - the 12 hours were boring.
• 'Rob thee of a new embrace'


  Does not want to rob her of a new lover.
• 'Skilful mineralists'


  Compares himself to a geologist. Objectifies women by suggesting they are treasures.
• 'Treasure in unploughed up ground'


  The speaker prefers virgin women as they are treasures.
• 'If,' in last stanza


  There is an unlikelihood of him returning, magnified by the caesura.
• 'When I have loved my round'


  A roundabout course? Suggests he wants to deflower as many women as possible.
• 'Spoils of meaner beauties crowned'


  The speaker believes himself to be a conquerer of deflowering women.
• 'I laden will return to thee'

  Argument that the woman will gain from the speaker's philandering.
• 'Ev'n sated with variety'


  Greed, gluttering and selfishness.
• The poem consists of four rhyming cinquains. It makes sure not to follow any set or inherited form such as the sonnet or sestina reflecting the Cavaliers' rebellious attitudes; opposing the dominant Puritanical spirit of the time.
• 'This poem articulates the pose of the careless Cavalier for whom love is nothing more than a game' 


  Advocates of this view would argue that the speaker acts immorally, making promises and then disowning them the following day. Advocates may even argue that this cavalier does not even know what love is; the poem contains nothing of tenderness, only coldness after the woman's function has expired.