Sir John Suckling  (1609–1642) LINKS Sir John Suckling (1609–1642) http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/suckling/ Anniina Jokinen and Luminarium collaborate to provide interested readers with this highly professional Sir John Suckling site. In addition to links and his biography, Jokinen also reprints an extensive amount of Suckling’s work. Selected Poetry of Sir John Suckling http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/suckling.html Representative Poetry On-line and the English Department at the University of Toronto feature seven of Sir John Suckling’s works, including a sonnet, a ballad, songs, and poems. Each piece is footnoted with a bibliography. Sir John Suckling. I. Cavalier Lyricist http://www.bartleby.com/217/0110.html Bartleby presents excerpts from Volume VII. Cavalier and Puritan of The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Passions in Poetry—Classical Poems by Sir John Suckling http://www.netpoets.com/classic/061000.htm Poems for the People – By the People reprint eight of Sir John Suckling’s poems. BIOGRAPHY Born into a prominent family (his father was secretary of state to King James I), Suckling was educated at Trinity College of Cambridge University. He inherited his father’s considerable estate when he was eighteen and traveled much in France and Italy (1628). Knighted upon his return to England (1630), he spent some time soldiering. He became a prominent courtier and was thought of as “the greatest gallant of his time, and the greatest gamester both for bowling and cards.” He supported the ill-fated Charles I in the civil war between the forces of the king and the forces of Parliament and was forced into exile, where, according to contemporary authorities, he committed suicide in Paris. His lighthearted lyrics establish his reputation, and justify the words of Millamant, a character in William Congreve’s play The Way of the World, who refers to him as “natural, easy Suckling.”