The Profane Wit of John Wilmot Earl of Rochester

Restoration Poet Notorious for Scalding Tongue and Saucy Language

Nov 14, 2009

Rochester's "Allusion to Horace" and "Imperfect Enjoyment" exemplify the harsh, honest language and explicitly sexual imagery that have earned him both notoriety and fame

Rochester, a name celebrated by some, denounced by others, and unknown to most, is gaining more and more attention from literary scholars, historians, and professors within the community of English studies. The reasons for his mixed review and for his growing interest may be attributed to the same thing: his language.

The Restoration period in England was characterized by regained freedoms. After the rule of Oliver Cromwell and his Commonwealth, the theaters re-opened and the literary community burgeoned with new poetry and drama exploring the liberal bounds of King Charles II's reign; sex and social status were the models of satire, satire was celebrated as the epitome of wit, and wit granted its exhibitor social and artistic power. Given his penchant for sexy and critical language, Rochester climbed to the top of the Restoration social ladder while simultaneously rendering his poetic oeuvre "unsuitable" for future readers.

"An Allusion to Horace"

The literary community of the Restoration period could be said to have split into two factions: the professional poets and the courtier poets. Rochester, given his birth and social ranking, was ranked among the courtier poets. John Dryden, poet laureate under the reign of Charles II, ranked among the professional poets, and, despite a brief alliance with Rochester, ultimately aligned himself as the Earl's literary enemy. This led to an ongoing dispute between the two writers in which Rochester composed his masterful and unrelenting poem An Allusion to Horace.

The poem, written in heroic couplets, moves quickly from the start. Rochester accuses Dryden's poetry to be plagiarized, forced, and dull, while at the same time acknowledging the poet laureate's success with his dramatic pieces:

In these first lines Rochester has established himself as a merciless critic (not just anyone could so harshly poo-poo the poet laureate), and he continues to prove himself one throughout the piece. In the following lines, Rochester is poking fun at Dryden's attempts to recreate the wit of King Charles Court in his own poetry - which wit was often very sexual in nature and more characteristic of Rochester's timbre than Dryden's:

Considering these sharp attacks against the canonical figure of the Restoration period, it is no wonder why later literary critics would in turn judge Rochester so harshly, condemning his frank language as "obscene."

However offensive the language used against Dryden seemed, it was no match for the offense taken by later critics for Rochester's overtly sexual language in many of his other poems. One such poem is his infamous "Imperfect Enjoyment," a narrative piece which details the frustration of premature ejaculation and subsequent impotence. However, despite - or rather because - of the bold and candid nature of his language, Rochester offers the modern reader an understanding of Restoration culture and sexuality totally absent from the works of Dryden. Consider the following lines:

It can readily be seen from the explicit imagery in this passage why many critics - especially those from the Victorian era - found this piece entirely unsuitable for student readers, which led to the near-burial of Rochester's works for two centuries. There is much value to these lines, though, in their cheeky undermining of Platonic devices; the speaker's "fluttering soul" and the woman's "balmy brinks of bliss," while purporting to be kind euphemisms, are more likely jabs taken at the notion of metaphysical love popularly evoked by Renaissance writers. The final line, identifying the speaker's love as a reaction solely to the woman's "****," satirically grounds this piece in the pursuit of physical rather than spiritual gratification.

Indeed, the "profane wit" of the Earl of Rochester has earned him much censure; but, given that same profanity, his intrigue and popularity are ever on the rise.

Work Cited

Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl. The Complete Poems of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Edited by David M. Vieth. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968.

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