John Wilmot

John Wilmot: biography

John Wilmot was born on 1st April 1647 in Oxfordshire. His mother was a strict Puritan, and his father, Henry Wilmot, was an important Baron. Henry was close with Charles II and was given the title Earl of Rochester by Charles. He helped Charles II escape England after a disastrous defeat to Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil Wars. Cromwell was a Puritan leader who ruled the United Kingdom for a period.

Fig. 1 - A recreation of what the English Civil War would have looked like.

Henry fled with Charles II to mainland Europe and died in 1658. John Wilmot never knew his father, but the title of Earl of Rochester was passed onto Wilmot after his father's death. Despite this title, Wilmot was relatively poor.

Wilmot received an education in Latin and attended Oxford University as a teenager. However, his studies were chaotic and often interrupted by the civil wars around him. Wilmot began writing poetry while at Oxford.

Charles II became monarch of England in 1660 after Cromwell's death. In recognition of his father's help, the King gave Wilmot a sum of money and sent him on a tour of France and Italy until 1664. This exposed Wilmot to different languages, cultures, and types of literature.

Upon his return to England, Wilmot was made a member of Charles II's court and enjoyed a close relationship with the King. However, he was still not a wealthy man, and this impacted him. He was plagued with constant worries about his financial state and tried to use his position in court to improve this. Wilmot also quickly became well known in the court as an eccentric and extroverted figure. The King attempted to orchestrate a marriage between Wilmot and Elizabeth Malet, a wealthy heiress. Her family disapproved of Wilmot due to his lack of finances. In response, Wilmot temporarily kidnapped Elizabeth Malet. This led to him spending some time in the Tower of London as punishment at only eighteen years old. Wilmot and Malet eventually eloped together in 1667.

It is thought that Wilmot wrote both poems and plays prolifically. However, many of his poems have since been lost because publishing poetry was uncommon at the time. Poems would usually be circulated in manuscripts amongst like-minded people.

Wilmot wrote various kinds of poetry, including love poems, lyrics, and satires. His love poetry includes the well-known poem 'Absent from Thee', written sometime in the mid-1600s. Regardless of genre, Wilmot was recognised most for his subversive and often lewd works. These were popular at the time. Wilmot used his satires to write about the goings-on of Charles II's court. These poems were particularly successful with his fellow courtiers. Some of Wilmot's satires include 'A Satyr against Reason and Mankind', 'A Satyr on Charles II', and 'Signior Dildo'.

Even as a married man, Wilmot remained an active member of court, drinking and having various affairs. He frequently spent periods banned from court due to violence as a result of his heavy drinking. By his early thirties, Wilmot had become seriously unwell. Historians believe this was due to both his drinking and venereal diseases he may have contracted. Wilmot died on 26th July 1680 at the age of 33. Despite his tumultuous life, he was remembered fondly as a talented writer, with many of his poems being published posthumously.

John Wilmot: poetry

John Wilmot developed a love of writing at a young age and carried this with him throughout his short life. He gained fame and popularity in the court of King Charles II for his witty poetry. He most often wrote love poems, lyrics, and satires. All these were subversive and often had very explicit content. This was commonplace in the literature of the Restoration era that Charles II had brought about.

Wilmot's satirical and explicit poetry was so extreme that, even in this new Restoration age, he found himself in trouble. In one particular instance, he was temporarily banned from court for accidentally giving a new verse to the King that satirised the King himself.

John Wilmot: poems

Now let's look at some specific poems of Wilmot's.

John Wilmot: 'Absent from Thee'

'Absent from Thee' is a love poem by Wilmot from the mid-1600s. As Wilmot regularly did, the poem takes the conventions of typical love poetry and subverts them. 'Absent from Thee' has a consistent structure and is written in iambic tetrameter.

The narrator of Wilmot's poem speaks as if in a traditional love poem. He professes his love for his partner and describes how torturous it is for him to be separated from her. However, at the same time, he details his affairs, and it seems highly likely he will have more. The narrator uses his deep love for his partner as an excuse to be unfaithful. He argues that she should allow him this.

Wilmot uses 'Absent from Thee' to criticise traditional relationships and emphasise the power that sexuality and lust have over people.

John Wilmot: 'A Satyr on Charles II'

'A Satyr on Charles II' is a poem written in Wilmot's classically mocking style. It playfully makes fun of King Charles II and his many mistresses. This poem was accidentally given to the King and Wilmot was temporarily banned from court for writing it.

'A Satyr on Charles II' uses extremely vulgar and obscene language. It goes into deep detail about Charles II's sexual life. However, Wilmot uses the theme of sexuality to disguise his subtle criticisms of the monarchy. He points out that Charles seems to spend more time having affairs than ruling his country. 'A Satyr on Charles II' paints a picture of a sex-obsessed and frivolous monarch who cares little for his duties and responsibilities. Wilmot ends the poem with the highly critical line quoted below.

John Wilmot: books

Very few of Wilmot's poems were published during his lifetime. The majority were published posthumously.Over the years, literary scholars have disagreed over which poems circulating in Charles II's court actually belonged to Wilmot. Shared authorship was common in the 1600s and poetry was often written on flimsy manuscripts. In addition, Wilmot had many of his poems burned while on his deathbed as he renounced his previous lifestyle and accepted religion in his dying days.

However, many poems that have been identified as Wilmot's have survived. Academics have compiled these poems and published in various versions of 'Collected Works' of Wilmot. Even these modern editions have been controversial because of the explicit nature of many of Wilmot's poems. This aspect of Wilmot's work was both celebrated by some and shocking to others during his lifetime. However, many as late as the twentieth century, were still taken aback by the vulgarity of Wilmot's poetry. In 1964, the critic and historian Vivian de Sola Pinto found himself unable to publish Wilmot's poem 'The Imperfect Enjoyment' in a collection he was compiling on the poet due to Britain's obscenity laws at the time. The poem involves an in-depth exploration of a couple's sex life.¹

John Wilmot: quotes

Below is a table of quotes from Wilmot's poems.