Thematic comparison between To Lucasta and Donne di Lovelace The modern perception of love expressed in literature - with gender equality and the abandonment of the expected game of role - have not become arbitrarily pervasive, but are the product of centuries of incremental progression. The 17th century in particular provided the foundation for this progression, as poets for the first time began to question the dictated structure and male domination of the Elizabethan era. Two 17th-century poems, Richard Lovelace's knightly "To Lucasta on Going to the Wars" and John Donne's metaphysical "Song," each focusing on the pain inflicted by different aspects of love, employ tactics emblematic of the century's poetry. to demonstrate the perplexing nature of love. Both apparent attempts to comfort their audiences by universalizing and morally justifying the harmful realities of love ultimately fail and leave their audiences with only exacerbated grief. "To Lucasta", Lovelace's attempt to justify her departure from her lover Lucasta for the British Civil War by subjugating her sensual love to honor, fails in its illogical and contradictory nature, and recognizes the capacity of love's resistance to victimize the man, while "Song," seeking to ease the pain of fleeting love, only emphasizes the inevitable elusiveness of love. Lovelace, one of the most eminent knight poets of the seventeenth century, attempts to use his particular situation with his lover Lucasta as well as an appeal to honor and patriotism to justify to all soldiers the departure of their lovers, but the poem's inconsistencies prevent its success. Throughout the poem, Lovelace's mind, understanding the need to go into battle, remains at war with his... middle of paper... love for his precious Lucasta, however, inconsistencies and vacillations pervade his writing, and reveal his unintentional mockery of military values ​​and his unbreakable bond with Lucasta. As he must venture into battle, he becomes a victim of love's enduring impregnability. Donne, in his "Song" initially tries to comfort all men who have encountered the difficulties of romantic relationships. With her strong, dominant voice, however, she erases the prospect of lasting love. Unlike Lovelace, Donne presents himself as a victim of the elusiveness of love. What the two poems have in common is the uneasy effect on the audience resulting from their eventual resignation to their respective perceived realities. For Lovelace, this reality is a future of battle and separation from everything that matters; for Women, it's a life devoid of lasting love.