Author: ROCHESTER (John Wilmot), Earl of:
Title: Poems On Several Occasions: With Valentinian; A Tragedy. Written by the Right Honourable John, Earl of Rochester.
Description: London, Printed for Jacob Tonson..., 1705. 8vo, 188 x 115 mms., pp. [x], xvi [xvii - xxi, xxii blank], 208,177 - 223 [224 Epilogue], pp. 177-208 repeated in pagination; but text and register are continuous, fore-margin of title-page with folded paper with text, "No Man Wise at all times," ink circles on front end-papers enclosing petal shape ellipsis, or lens, slightly later panelled calf, red leather label; text foxed, severely in the case of the title-page and many other leaves, lacks final blank leaf, top and base of joints cracked. Tonson published the first text with this title in 1691 and this was the second edition to be published in the 18th century. His reputation both as a human being and poet has attracted scores of assessments and comments: Andrew Marvell called him "the best English satirist," and even Voltaire referred to him as "the man of genius, the great poet" and he was also said to be unable to express himself and his feelings without oaths and obscenities. Visiting the King, Charles II, in his garden, he remark of a sundial shaped to resemble a phallus, "What! Do you stand here to fuck time?" At the conclusion of his History of England, David Hume, assessing the writers of the Restoration, asserted, "The very name of Rochester is offensive to modest ears' yet does his poetry discover such energy of style and such poignancy of satire, as give ground to imagine what so fin a genius, had he fallen in a more hppay age, and had followed better models, was capable of producing. The ancient satyhrists often used great liberties in their expressions; but their freedom no more resembles the licentiousness of Rochester, than the nakedness of an Indian does that of a common prostitute."

Keywords: poetry drama literature


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