SOURCE: “‘Men Most of All Enjoy, When Least They Do': The Love Poetry of John Suckling,” in Texas Studies in Literature and Language, Vol. XTV, No. 1, Spring, 1972, pp. 17-32.

In the following essay, Anselment critiques the traditional assessment of Suckling as merely a cynical love poet.

Among the group of poets conveniently labeled “Cavalier,” John Suckling has in particular been stereotyped. Largely because of the set anthology pieces and the limited critical studies, “Natural, easy Suckling” is commonly seen as an unabashed rakehell and a dilettante writer whose amateur love poetry is synonymous with libertine cynicism.¹ This characterization, like the more inclusive designation “Cavalier,” neatly places Suckling's poetry in a literary and a philosophical tradition; but the depiction is misleading. While some of his more famous poems apparently endorse a cynical vision of love, the entire canon reveals this is only one response in a complex and even...