Talk:John Suckling (poet)

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"dragon"[edit]

What does the Dragon statement in the beginning mean? Did he transform? Doesn't anyone check these pages for actual reliable content? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 208.16.220.65 (talk) 17:51, 14 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Parliamentary Service[edit]

I find no mention of Suckling in the article on Bramber constituency. This ought to be checked in case of confusion with another constituency, and a citation given. Would his absconding have led to a by-election at which a named replacement was returned?Cloptonson (talk) 19:03, 5 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The article on Suckling's namesake father in the History of Parliament at

http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/suckling-john-1569-1626

does not state John junior served in the Long Parliament but was returned for Bramber in the Short Parliament (earlier same year).Cloptonson (talk) 19:35, 30 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

According to Suckling's sketch in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), he was returned for Bramber during the time of the Short Parliament on 30 April 1640, before the parliament was dissolved on 5 May, at a by-election. I will therefore amend the reference to his parliamentary service in this page.Cloptonson (talk) 12:59, 12 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Death Date[edit]

His ODNB article places his death year as 1641 with question mark, but nothing supports his being alive in 1642 attributed to Aubrey. Aubrey was writing his Brief Lives decades after the events - can anyone with access to Aubrey's work check if he did explicitly place the death in 1642? Tom Clayton's ODNB article examines his last months and places his last being recorded alive on 23 July 1641 (when Francis Windebank informed his son in a letter that Parliament had stopped pensions to Suckling and himself). Suckling and his co-plotters were found guilty of high treason by Parliament in their absence on 13 August 1641. Time permitting I will elaborate on his death circumstances in this page.Cloptonson (talk) 13:16, 12 April 2014 (UTC) The ODNB states an elegy was written on him (as "Sir John Sutling") "in February 1642 or earlier", arguably supports the case he was not alive in summer of 1642.Cloptonson (talk) 14:14, 12 April 2014 (UTC) In light of these factors I have deleted "in May or June 1642" from the reference to Aubrey's account.Cloptonson (talk) 14:17, 12 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Play The Sad One[edit]

I question this statement in the section on his Dramatic Works:

a fourth play, The Sad One, was left unfinished owing to the outbreak of the Civil War.

The Civil War could not be blamed for the play being unfinished as Suckling had died abroad before the war broke out in the middle of 1642. The circumstances of his exile from May 1641 onwards would not anyway have been conducive to leisurely writing. Deserves checking.Cloptonson (talk) 19:03, 13 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]