Cavalier poets

Cavalier poets, a group of English poets associated with Charles I and his exiled son. Most of their work was done between c.1637 and 1660. Their poetry embodied the life and culture of upper-class, pre-Commonwealth England, mixing sophistication with naïveté, elegance with raciness. Writing on the courtly themes of beauty, love, and loyalty, they produced finely finished verses, expressed with wit and directness. The poetry reveals their indebtedness to both Ben Jonson and John Donne. The leading Cavalier poets were Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Sir John Suckling, and Thomas Carew.

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Cavalier poets

Group of English gentlemen poets who were Cavaliers (supporters of Charles I during the English Civil Wars). The term embraces Sir John Suckling, Edmund Waller, Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew (1594?–1640?), and Richard Lovelace (1618–57). Accomplished as soldiers, courtiers, gallants, and wits, they wrote polished and elegant lyrics, typically on love and dalliance and sometimes on war, honour, and duty to the king.