Where’s the past? No, this isn’t a metaphorical or tricky question, but a literal one. If we think about it, there’s not really a way to grab the past, since it has vanished away. The future isn’t even something we can treasure, for it doesn’t really exist.
We’re stuck in the present, that’s the only reliable evidence of life we have. That longing for time is a constant theme among philosophers and artists, and it finds a home in poetry.
What is our role as humans? Are we prisoners of the present? These esoteric questions are thrown around constantly in lecture halls and in pubs during the last call, and we’ve all heard them at least once in our lifetime. As some sat down and pondered the true meaning of life, some poets and artists sought pleasure and sensation as a way to give sense to this existence. Writers like John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, have explored these themes. As part of Charles II court during the Restoration era, Wilmot was seen as a rebellious man who fought to eradicate all the Puritan ideas of the time. His lascivious, satiric, and sharp philosophical and political comments made him the embodiment of a new era on a country that was fast evolving.
Known as “the libertine,” Wilmot stated: “After Death, nothing is, and nothing Death.”
His pursuit of pleasure and his urgency to satisfy his deepest desires, together with his erotic poetry, has provoked some obvious comparisons with the Marquis de Sade. Unfairly, Wilmot’s work has lived under the shadow of the French writer.Here are some of his most erotic verses. With a great sense of humor, he questions the nature of love and eroticism.
“The Imperfect Enjoyment” is a great example of this. In this poem, he describes the thoughts of a man that has prematurely ejaculated. Here are some verses:
He continues:
In “Song,” Wilmot warns the addressee on love’s futility:
Then give me Health, Wealth, Mirth, and Wine,
And if busie Love intrenches,
There’s a sweet soft Page of mine,
Do’s the Trick worth Forty Wenches.
As mentioned before, the concern about the present and its role in life is something that permeates in the author’s works. Here are some lines from “Love and Life: A Song”:
His excessive consumption of alcohol and his constant parties, full of wild sexual encounters, cost him a time in prison. When he was freed, he got married to ease all the pressures of his wild life.
When the Earl was only 33 years old, he allegedly succumbed to the harms of syphilis and alcoholism. He died, but he left behind a great legacy of poems that are worth exploring in the dark under the rustling sheets.
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Source:
Poetry Foundation
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Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
