To Lucasta, Going to the Wars Theme of Principles

In his concluding lines the speaker of "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars" talks about his love of honor. In fact, it's that very principle that ultimately gives meaning to his love for Lucasta, and his life more generally. While he only mentions honor one time, the preceding lines that justify his actions are all leading up to this big, principled reveal.

1. How exactly do you think our speaker would define honor? How can you tell?
2. Do you think the speaker's sense of honor should be important to Lucasta? Why or why not?
3. Does the speaker seem motivated by any principles other than honor?

Honor is only mentioned in the last line of the poem, which suggests that often our principles influence our decisions without our even realizing that they do.

This speaker's not principled at all. He's just using honor as an excuse.