John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
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The Right Honourable The Earl of Rochester |
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| Born |
1 April 1647 Ditchley, Oxfordshire, England |
| Died | 26 July 1680 (aged 33) , England |
| Cause of death | Believed to be complications from syphilis |
| Resting place | Spelsbury, Oxfordshire, England |
| Alma mater |
Wadham College University of Oxford |
| Notable work |
A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind A Letter From Artemesia An Allusion to Horace A Ramble in St James' Park The Imperfect Enjoyment |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Wilmot, Countess of Rochester |
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester was the embodiment of the new era, and he is as well known for his rakish lifestyle as his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. He died at the age of 33 from venereal disease.
Rochester's contemporary Andrew Marvell described him as "the best English satirist," and he is generally considered to be the most considerable poet and the most learned among the Restoration wits. His poetry, despite being widely censored during the Victorian era, enjoyed a revival from the 1920s onwards, with notable champions including Graham Greene and Ezra Pound. The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked Rochester's libertinism to Hobbesian materialism. During his lifetime, he was best known for A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind, and it remains among his best known works today.
John Wilmot was born at Ditchley House in Oxfordshire on 1 April 1647. His father, Henry, Viscount Wilmot, would be created Earl of Rochester in 1652 for his military service to Charles II during the King's exile under the Commonwealth. Paul Davis describes Henry as "a Cavalier legend, a dashing bon viveur and war-hero who single-handedly engineered the future Charles II's escape to the Continent (including the famous concealment in an oak tree) after the disastrous battle of Worcester in 1651". His mother, Anne St. John, was a strong-willed Puritan from a noble Wiltshire family.
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