The Restoration

The term Restoration is applied to the period following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, in 1660, after the interregnum. It is studied as a literary period too, since we are going to find a particular style in literature that is going to celebrate or not the return of Charles II. It is important to point out that during this period, the arts were developed, due to the aristocratic atmosphere that was established with the return of Charles II. In this period we can see a development of the poetry. It became an important genre, because the poetry was written by important people of the court. In the second part of the XVII century there was a development of the interest for the philosophic thought, and this can be observed in poetry. On the other hand, there was a loss of interest for individual sentiments. The public matters were more important, reflecting the courtly context of the producers of poetry. Referring to the formal aspect of the poetry of the period, the most popular structure was the iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets. The general liking for this type of formal structure give us an image of the public life of the court, where appearance is more important than individual sentiments. For this reason, we can see these aspects in the authors that we are going to talk about. Overall in John Wilmot and John Dryden who were members of the court.

EARL OF ROCHESTER, JOHN WILMOT John Wilmot was born in 1647. He took his degree 1661, and for three years he made the tour. This is a travel of studies with a tutor, so he travelled with a Scotch physician in France and Italy. This is going to be very important because it will influence him in many ways: in his knowledge, in his behaviour. The places where he had been could have also influenced in the style and topics of his poetry. His (character) could influence in his poetry, and also in his readers, that would have a bad image oh him before reading his poetry. He was famous because of his recurrent bad behaviour, drunkenness, quarrels, duels. Probably, his bad reputation among the members of the court was because he wrote in a satirical way about courtly affairs and he parodied the style of his contemporaries. We can know something about him, about his behaviour, his life, his knowledge trough many playwrights, as Dryden, because he had acted as patron to most of them. In his Allusion to Horace Rochester suggest a fit audience, where he mentions two professional writers (Shadwell and Butler), so we can know that these writers read him. Obviously, from his poetry it is possible to know that his writings were addressed to important people, of upper class, as all the writers of the court, and most of the writers of the period.

With respect to the opinion of other writers, we could say that he was considered a good writer, because many writers read him, and, even, Marvell said that he was the best English satirist. However, he only authorized the publication of three works, the rest must have published because they felt into the hands of collector since he gave copies to his own friends. Furthermore, as he had not a professional interest in poetry he did not care about publishing it. And, because of this, his poetry varies in content, genre and form.

WIKI DEL AO PASADO THE POETRY OF THE RESTORATION

The Poetry of the Restoration THE RESTORATION Restoration literature is the English literature written during the historical period commonly referred to as the English Restoration (1660-1700). In general, the term is used to denote homogeneous styles of literature that centre on a celebration of or reaction to the restored court of Charles II. Dealing with the poetry of the Restoration period, we have to say that the Restoration was an age of poetry. Not only was poetry the most popular form of literature, but it was also the most significant form of literature, as poems affected political event s and immediately reflected the times. It was, to its own people, an age dominated only by the king, and not by any single genius. Throughout the period, the lyric, historical and epic poem were developed. Poetry became so important at the time because it was created by important people of the time, courtly people. Lyric poetry, in which the poet speaks of his own feelings in the first person and expresses a mood, was not essentially common in the Restoration period. Poets expressed their points of view in other forms, usually public or formally disguised poetic forms such as odes, pastoral poetry One of the characteristics of the period is its devaluation of individual sentiment and psychology in favour of public utterance and philosophy. Formally, the Restoration period had a preferred rhyme scheme. Rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter were by far the most popular structure for poetry of all types.

There were many important authors at the time, but the most important were Dryden, Rochester, Buckingham, and Dorset. All of them were attached to the court of Charles and they all dominated the verse pattern. Aphra Behn , by contrast, was an outsider who was profoundly royalist. The court poets follow no one's (or "no") particular style, except that they all show sexual awareness, a willingness to satirize, and a dependence upon wit to dominate their opponents. When Charles II became the king of England many things in England changed, he was a king who was really concerned with the arts. As a matter of curiosity, he was known as the Merrie Monarch. With Charles II and the Restoration period in England it is important to mention that it was a moment of changes in England politically speaking and also in the church. John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester Rochester was born on 1st April of 1647 in Oxfordshire. He was the son of one of Charles II most loyal followers in exile. Maybe for this reason he received a special treatment when he dedicated those satires to the king. When his father died, the young Wilmot inherited the Earldom of Rochester and his fathers not very extensive estate in Oxfordshire in his eleventh year. He won the kings favour at the Restoration and, in 1664, after education at Oxford and on the continent, took a place at court, at the age of seventeen. There he soon distinguished himself as The man who has the most wit and the least honour in England. In 1667 he married Elizabeth Mallet, a witty heiress whom he had attempted to abduct two years earlier. Samuel Pepys describes the event in his diary for 28 May 1665. His career was no less stormy. His satiric wit, directed not only at ordinary mortals but at Dryden and Charles II himself, his practical jokes and his affairs embroiled him in constant quarrels and exiles . He told his biographe r that For five years together I was continually drunk. By the age of thirty-three Rochester was dying, presumably from syphilis, other venereal diseases and the effects of alcoholism but just before his death, however, he was converted to Christianity; and for posterity Rochester became a favorite moral topic: the libertine who had seen the error of his ways. During his lifetime, his songs and satires were known mainly f rom anonymous manuscript circulation; most of Rochesters poetry was not published under his name until after his death.

He also did translations from classical authors such as Ovid, Horace or Seneca, Lucretious and Anacreon. He was also interested in theatre, in addition to an interest in the actresses. He wrote his best-known dramatic work Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery ,which has never been successfully proven to be written by him. His works were at once admired and infamous. He wrote many satires and lampoons. In 1674, Rochester wrote A Satyr on Charles II, which criticized the king for being obsessed with sex at the expense of his kingdom, consequently, Rochester fled from the court. A Ramble in St Jamess Park (Text) The Poem is developed at St James Park. This kind of scenes abounded in Restoration. Once enjoyed exclusively by the royal families, many parks were open to the public by the time of The Restoration. Aristocrats went there to show the latest fashions, socialize and flirt. St James was a more exotic and erotic public park. James I stocked the park with leopards, antelopes, crocodiles, ducks Charles II opened St James for the public and was himself a frequent visitor. When Rochester and him were fine with each other, the libertine went to St James, if not, it was because Rochester had done something wrong: write something that angry the king, By night, St James became a place for prostitution and sexual activity. Lord Rochester talks in this poem about these nocturnal couplings with apparent first -hand knowledge. Sexual freedom was a common theme in court life and both sexes were quite free in their favours. (This satire does not deal with any of the King's sexual problems!) Corinna, one the speakers regular lovers, ignores him and takes up three gentlemen, three pretenders to social, intelletual and sexual position, the position of the wits of the time. Rochester extends the ideal of honesty into the sexual area and insists that reason should be used to increase and prolong pleasure. This is an example of Rochesters sex ideal Honest, generous lust. It means that he accepts lust when it comes by a kind of symbiotic relationship, not only give to others without attraction or sexual feeling. Rochester was an icon for his time, a witty courtier, brave in battle, the kings friend, popular with women and able to walk the dangerous pathways of court. --I do relly miss the comment on other pf Rochester's poems and satires that c an be clasified into "literary, philosophical,religious, social and political".