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Lead book review

Thug, rapist, poetic visionary: the contradictory Earl of Rochester

A review of Blazing Star: The Life and Times of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, by Alexander Larman. You wouldn't have wanted to meet him, but he deserves a biographer who can write

28 June 2014

9:00 AM

28 June 2014

9:00 AM

Blazing Star: The Life and Times of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester Alexander Larman

Head of Zeus, pp.352, £25, ISBN: 9781781851098

Despite being an earl, Rochester is very nearly a major poet. His poems and letters were torn up by a zealous mother after his death, bent on destroying anything obscene or scandalous. A good deal was lost, but a lot was passed from hand to hand, copied and recopied (it was never printed in Rochester’s lifetime).

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