John Wilmot (1647-1680) was an infamous poet and playwright of the mid-1600s. He was a close friend of King Charles II and an active member of his court. Wilmot's work and behaviour were controversial and often got him in trouble.
Below is a biography of Wilmot and an exploration of his poetry. You will also find a table with quotes from his best-known poems.
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.
Puritanism is an extremely conservative and strict denomination of Protestantism. It focuses on the potential for human sin and how this must be avoided. Puritans see sexual matters as particularly shameful.
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.
Multiple civil wars took place in England during the mid-1600s. These were over how the country should be governed. There were two sides to these wars: the 'Roundheads' and the 'Cavaliers'.
The 'Roundheads' believed England should be ruled by a parliament and the 'Cavaliers' thought the country should be ruled by a monarchy. Cavaliers believed that monarchs had a God-given right to rule. King Charles I was the monarch at this time. The civil wars were a turbulent time for England with the Roundheads eventually winning.
However, the monarchy took back control of England after the death of Oliver Cromwell.
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.
The Restoration period (1660-1689) refers to when the monarchy was restored after Oliver Cromwell's rule over the United Kingdom. Charles II became the King. It was an era known for its cultural permissiveness, which developed as a reaction to the oppressive values of Cromwell's Puritanism. Literature became much more explicit and honest. Theatre developed similarly, and women were permitted to act on stage for the first time.
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.
Iambic tetrameter is when there are four iambic feet per line of poetry. This involves an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable.
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.
All monarchs I hate (l. 32)
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.
| Quote | Location | Explanation |
| 'Dear! from thine arms then let me fly,That my fantastic mind may proveThe torments it deserves to try' | 'Absent from Thee', ll. 5-7. | These lines are said by the poem's narrator, addressing his lover. He asks to be allowed freedom to explore his sexual urges and have affairs. This is an unusual request for a love poem. Wilmot is subverting the conventions of the genre. |
| 'All monarchs I hate, and the thrones they sit on,From the hector of France to the cully of Britain.' | 'A Satyr on Charles II', ll. 32-33. | Wilmot closes his satire of the King with these two lines. Behind the light-hearted mocking of the King's interest in mistresses is a real criticism of monarchies. The word 'hector' refers to a bully and the word 'cully' means one who can be easily influenced or swayed. |
| 'Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms,I filled with love, and she all over charms;Both equally inspired with eager fire,' | 'The Imperfect Enjoyment', ll. 1-3. | These are the opening lines of 'The Imperfect Enjoyment' and they set the scene for the poem. Wilmot creates an intimate atmosphere between two lovers that has clearly sexual undertones. These undertones progress through the poem to such a degree that it could not be published for many years due to its obscene nature. |
| 'Here lies a great and mighty King,Whose promise none relied on;He never said a foolish thing,Nor ever did a wise one.' | 'Epitaph on Charles II', ll. 1-4. | This poem only consists of these four lines. It is a false epitaph for the King. It once again mocks him but in a much less harmful way than in 'A Satyr on Charles II'. Wilmot happily presented these lines to Charles who took them in good humour. |
John Wilmot - Key takeaways
- John Wilmot was a controversial and infamous poet active in the 1600s.
- He was a prominent member of the court of King Charles II.
- 'Absent from Thee' and 'A Satyr on Charles II' are two important poems by Wilmot.
- Wilmot was known for his explicit and obscene verses which were censored as late as the twentieth century.
- Wilmot's work mostly exists in posthumously published collections as publishing one's own poetry was uncommon in the 1600s.
References
- Reba Wilcoxon, Pornography, Obscenity, and Rochester's "The Imperfect Enjoyment", Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 1975.
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