If one were to compile a list of the most outrageous, scandalous, and provocative poets in all of English literature, one name would have to lead all the rest: John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-80). His colourful private (and public) life at the court of King Charles II was dramatised in the film The Libertine, where Rochester was played by Johnny Depp. But what of Wilmot’s poems? Below we introduce ten of the Earl of Rochester’s best. Warning: these poems contain language and sexual content. Thou hast been warned!
