Biehn and Wilmot: Satirical yet Bawdy

During the 17th Century, the 1660 Restoration of Charles II marked a return of art, poetry, and ideals. John Wilmot and Aphra Behn were a few examples of poets who lived in this era. Behn (16401689) was one of the first females to make a living as a professional writer, but she died struggling to find jobs. Some called her “The Incomparable Astrea.” Wilmot (1647-1680) was the Second Earl of Rochester, and he was known for his satiric works, crude yet witty poetry, and his lifelong pursuit of passion and debauchery. The work of Wilmot and Behn can be best described as masculine, crude earthy poems versus detailed, pastoral yet explicit, respectively.

Wilmot was more crude and prone to using vulgar in his works. For example, "The Imperfect Enjoyment" is a poem of premature ejaculation; it involves a man in the throes of passion with a woman, but he is not able to perform sexually. In contrast, Behn wrote about characters with a shepherd-esque sort of name in which they spied on women in the grove. Set in a pastoral setting, it was common for love poetry. Since she is written explicitly about a near-encounter, it is where the humour consists of an earthy kind of literary style. "The Disappointment" is about passion, role-playing, and consent. It is not explicit; Behn writes of the women fleeing the man, who is condemned to impotence.  In contrast, Wilmot has the man cursing both his genitals and passions. The women is not a nymph but a fully-experienced woman who is aware of sexual activity. However, the man was too quick to contain himself and is thus humiliated.

While Behn was not as lewd as Wilmot, her poem "To The Fair Clarinda, Who Made Love To Me, Imagined More Than Woman" was the subject of controversy, because it described the relationship of two women. The speaker writes how she wishes her lover was male, because she would not be able to hide her love. To her, the female part is betraying her to the male part. At the time, sexuality and longing were quite common, but women had to describe said feelings in a subtle manner.

While the Earl of Rochester could be lewd and vulgar in his writing, Behn did explore a number of strong topics in her works that continue to be subject for review by contemporary scholars.