The first book length study of the motif of impotency in poetry from early antiquity through to the late Restoration, this book explores the impotency poem as a recognisable form of poetry in the longer tradition of erotic elegy. Hannah Lavery's central claim is that the impotency motif is adopted by poets in recognition of its potential to signify satirically through its use as symbol and allegory.By drawing together analysis of works in the tradition, Lavery shows how the impotency motif is used to engage with anxieties as to what it means to enact 'service' within political and social contexts.