Bright Heir T Th Bird Imperial; Richard Lovelaces The Falcon in Context

Abstract

This article both builds on and challenges previous interpretations of Richard Lovelace's lesser-known poem 'The Falcon'. The poem is situated in the context of contemporary royalist allegorical discourses and read as an allegory on the collapse of the royalist cause at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. This reading offers evidence that Lovelace's commitment to the royalist cause did not wane during the early 1650s, as has sometimes been suggested. The article proposes that Lovelace's work can sustain more intertextual and contextual analysis than it has previously received.