The Restoration and the 18th Century: The Earl of Rochester, Aphra Behn, and Robert Burns

About this Lecture

Moving on from the Metaphysical Poets, we come to the Restoration and the 18th Century. We look firstly at the poetry of John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester, one of the most famous poets to speak about male-male love – not least in his poem ‘Love a Woman?’ Another important figure discussed in this module is Aphra Behn, the first female novelist in the English language who pushed boundaries in a different way; her novella ‘Oroonoko’ was the first to present a black hero who is sexually attractive to the (white) women who write about him. She further questions to status quo in her poem ‘Love Armed’, in which she talks about the ‘tyranny’ of love in the patriarchal society of Restoration England. Finally, we turn to the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, the author of some of the most lasting lyrics in the history of the England language. Here, we explore his touching poem ‘Ae Fond Kiss’.