Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
A biography of the poet and libertine the Earl of Rochester.
Of the glittering, licentious court around King Charles II, John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, was the most notorious. Simultaneously admired and vilified, he personified the rake-hell. Libertine, profane, promiscuous, heshocked his pious contemporaries with his doubts about religion and his blunt verses that dealt with sex or vicious satiric assaults on the high and mighty of the court. This account of Rochester and his times provides the facts behind his legendary reputation as a rake and his deathbed repentance. However, it also demonstrates that he was a loving if unfaithful husband, a devoted father, a loyal friend, a serious scholar, a social critic, and an aspiring patriot.
An Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Rochester, James William Johnson is the author or editor of nine books and many articles treating British and American Literature.
Of the glittering, licentious court around King Charles II, John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, was the most notorious. Simultaneously admired and vilified, he personified the rake-hell. Libertine, profane, promiscuous, heshocked his pious contemporaries with his doubts about religion and his blunt verses that dealt with sex or vicious satiric assaults on the high and mighty of the court. This account of Rochester and his times provides the facts behind his legendary reputation as a rake and his deathbed repentance. However, it also demonstrates that he was a loving if unfaithful husband, a devoted father, a loyal friend, a serious scholar, a social critic, and an aspiring patriot.
An Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Rochester, James William Johnson is the author or editor of nine books and many articles treating British and American Literature.
Price: $65.00
Pages: 478
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Publication Date:
01 November 2004
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781580461702
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, Biography: historical, political and military, HISTORY / Modern / 17th Century, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, General and world history
Johnson (Emer., University of Rochester) wrote this generous biography -- a veritable progress of a rake's rake -- with enthusiasm and engaged fascination with Rochester (1647-1680) . . . Johnson's forte, in addition to the extensiveness of his information, is his strong narrative sweep: this is an exciting biography. Highly Recommended.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Rochester Legends
1. A Christian Upbringing (1647-1655)
2. A Classical Education (1656-1659)
3. Growing Debauched at Oxford (1660-1661)
4. The Grand Tour (1662-1664)
5. Campaigns and Engagements (1665)
6. Pursuits and Conquests (1666)
7. Man's Estate (1667)
8. The King's Pimp (1668-1669)
9. Love Raised to Extremes (1669-1670)
10. The Quintessence of Debauchery (1671)
11. Sallies in the Country (1671-1672)
12. Sodom (1673)
13. New Scenes of Foppery (January-June 1674)
14. Dog Days and Masques (July-December 1674)
15. Reversals and Recognitions (1675)
16. Livy and Sickness (January-April 1676)
17. Flights and Disguises (May-December 1676)
18. Sessions Poetical and Political (1677)
19. Scurvy Alarums (1678)
20. Extremity: on All Sides (1678-1679)
21. An End of Communion (1679-1680)
22. Sapience Angelical (May-July 1680)
Afterwards
Appendix
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Proper Names
Subject Index for John Wilmot
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Rochester Legends
1. A Christian Upbringing (1647-1655)
2. A Classical Education (1656-1659)
3. Growing Debauched at Oxford (1660-1661)
4. The Grand Tour (1662-1664)
5. Campaigns and Engagements (1665)
6. Pursuits and Conquests (1666)
7. Man's Estate (1667)
8. The King's Pimp (1668-1669)
9. Love Raised to Extremes (1669-1670)
10. The Quintessence of Debauchery (1671)
11. Sallies in the Country (1671-1672)
12. Sodom (1673)
13. New Scenes of Foppery (January-June 1674)
14. Dog Days and Masques (July-December 1674)
15. Reversals and Recognitions (1675)
16. Livy and Sickness (January-April 1676)
17. Flights and Disguises (May-December 1676)
18. Sessions Poetical and Political (1677)
19. Scurvy Alarums (1678)
20. Extremity: on All Sides (1678-1679)
21. An End of Communion (1679-1680)
22. Sapience Angelical (May-July 1680)
Afterwards
Appendix
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Proper Names
Subject Index for John Wilmot