John Suckling, Sessions of the Poets

Glyn Pursglove (Swansea University)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Suckling's satirical account of some of his contemporaries (and himself) can be dated to 1637 on the evidence of a manuscript in the Cranfield Papers which carries the date “Septembr 1637”. In a letter of October 1637 George Garrard refers to a “Ballad made of the Wits sung to the King when he was in the

New Forest

” and this may well refer to Suckling's poem. In the manuscript of 1637 the poem is entitled “The Wits”; when printed in

Fragmenta Aurea

(1646) it carried the title “A Sessions of the Poets” and it is by this title that it has become best known (though the earlier title seems more likely to be authorial). It has been suggested that the poem's satirical presentation of what Dr. Johnson called “the trial for the bays” Suckling's poem was indebted to Trajano…

598 words

Citation: Pursglove, Glyn. "Sessions of the Poets". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2000 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2140, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2140 Sessions of the Poets 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.