A Selection of Satirical and Licentious Verse of John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester

by John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, Neil Azevedo (Editor)

Overview

A thoroughly representative selection of the poetry of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. Rochester (1647–1680) was among the worst (best?) of the Restoration rakes, and also one of the period's best satirists employing a direct language rife with plenty of four-letter words and an obsessive indulgence of the most vulgar vernacular used on behalf of satirical shredding, scatological humor, and sexual candor.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940149914333
Publisher:	William Ralph Press
Publication date:	12/31/2014
Series:	The Reader's Library , #7
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	444,747
File size:	661 KB

About the Author

A thoroughly representative selection of the poetry of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. Rochester (1647–1680) was among the worst (best?) of the Restoration rakes, and also one of the period’s best satirists. Much—if not all—of his verse went unpublished during his brief lifetime and in many of the years following his death due to his frank and often hilarious treatment of taboo subjects and lampooning of powerful political personages such as Charles II. If unfamiliar with Rochester’s work, one should prepare to be met with a fully capable prosodist employing a direct language rife with plenty of four-letter words and an obsessive indulgence of the most vulgar vernacular used on behalf of satirical shredding, scatological humor, and sexual candor. Nothing was off limits for Rochester, and his poems have become an essential piece in the evolution of the western canon primarily because of this, along with his unparalleled satirical wit and his and egalitarian mastery of English combined with a technical virtuosity of his craft. Despite his reputation as a fearless satirist and libertine, though, the work also contains a depth of feeling and philosophical steadiness that belies a true, multilayered, often conflicted thinker. I humbly present in this volume a selection of his most representative, popular and naughty poems edited sparingly with contemporary American spelling and with some punctuation tweaks where—in my opinion—to not do so would potentially cause confusion during a simple reading of the material.