Sir John
Suckling
born February 1609, Whitton, Middlesex,
England
died 1642, Paris, France
English Cavalier poet, dramatist, and courtier,
best known for his lyrics.
He was educated at Cambridge and inherited his
father’s considerable estates at the age of 18.
He entered Gray’s Inn in 1627 and was knighted
in 1630. He became a prominent figure at court
with a reputation for being “the greatest
gallant of his time, and the greatest gamester
both for bowling and cards”; and he is credited
with having invented cribbage. He was a
gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles I and
a friend of the poets Thomas Carew, Richard
Lovelace, and Sir William Davenant. When the war
with the Scots broke out in 1639, Suckling
raised a troop of soldiers, supplying them with
horses at his own expense, and accompanied
Charles I on his ill-fated expedition. The
costumes of Suckling’s gaudy warriors and the
troop’s poor performance in the field were the
subjects of much ridicule.
In 1641 Suckling took an active part in the
plot to rescue the Earl of Strafford from the
Tower. When the plot was discovered, Suckling
fled to France and is believed to have committed
suicide.
Suckling was the author of four plays, the
most ambitious of which is the tragedy Aglaura,
magnificently staged in 1637 and handsomely
printed at the author’s expense (1638); the best
is the lively comedy The Goblins (1638). They
all contain echoes of Shakespeare and Beaumont
and Fletcher.
His reputation as a poet rests on his lyrics,
the best of which justifies the description of
him as “natural, easy Suckling.” He inherited
from Donne the tradition of the “anti-platonic”
deflation of high-flown love sentiment and uses
it with insouciance.
Out upon it I have loved
Three whole days together;
And am like to love three more,
If it prove fair weather.
He can even be cynically chiding in such
songs as this:
Why so pale and wan, fond lover?
Prithee, why so pale?
Will, when looking well can’t move her,
Looking ill prevail?
Prithee, why so pale?
A Session of the Poets (1637; published 1646)
is an amusing skit for which he probably took a
hint from an Italian work by Traiano Boccalini;
it is the prototype of a long line of similar
works in the 17th and 18th centuries. His
masterpiece is undoubtedly “A Ballad Upon a
Wedding,” in the style and metre of the
contemporary street ballad. Suckling’s extant
letters are in lively, colloquial prose that
anticipates that of the Restoration wits.
