The Choise of Valentines; Or the Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo

by Thomas Nash

"The Choise of Valentines; Or the Merie Ballad of Nash His Dildo" by Thomas Nashe is an erotic poem composed around 1592 or 1593. The work recounts a sexual encounter between the narrator Tomalin and his lover Frances in a city brothel on Valentine's Day. When Tomalin proves inadequate to satisfy his partner, she turns to a dildo, prompting anxieties about masculine sexuality and female autonomy. The poem remained unpublished until 1899, likely due to its explicit content and frank treatment of desire.