| Preface |
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xiii | |
| Introduction |
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xvii | |
| Rochester's Life |
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xvii | |
| Rochester's Poetry |
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xxxiii | |
| This Edition |
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xlii | |
| Rochester Studies 1925--1967 |
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lii | |
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Prentice Work (1665--1671) |
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3 | (1) |
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(`Twas a dispute' twixt heaven and earth) |
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A Pastoral Dialogue between Alexis and Strephon |
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4 | (3) |
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(There sighs not on the plain) |
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A Dialogue between Strephon and Daphne |
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7 | (3) |
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(Prithee now, fond fool, give o'er) |
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10 | (1) |
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(Give me leave to rail at you) |
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11 | (1) |
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(Insulting beauty, you misspend) |
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12 | (1) |
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(My dear mistress has a heart) |
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12 | (1) |
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(While on those lovely looks I gaze) |
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13 | (1) |
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(At last you'll force me to confess) |
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14 | (1) |
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(Love bade me hope, and I obeyed) |
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15 | (1) |
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(To this moment a rebel, I throw down my arms) |
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Written in a Lady's Prayer Book |
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16 | (1) |
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(Fling this useless book away) |
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17 | (1) |
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(Celia, the faithful servant you disown) |
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18 | (2) |
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(All things submit themselves to your command) |
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Under King Charles II's Picture |
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20 | (1) |
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(I, John Roberts, writ this same) |
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20 | (1) |
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21 | (1) |
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(Lorraine you stole; by fraud you got Burgundy) |
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22 | (1) |
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(And after singing Psalm the Twelfth) |
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Spoken Extempore to a Country Clerk after Having Heard Him Sing Psalms |
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22 | (1) |
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(Sternhold and Hopkins had great qualms) |
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To My More Than Meritorious Wife |
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23 | (1) |
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(I am, by fate, slave to your will) |
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Letter from Miss Price to Lord Chesterfield |
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24 | (1) |
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(These are the gloves that I did mention) |
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25 | (1) |
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(I could love thee till I die) |
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26 | (1) |
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(As Chloris full of harmless thought) |
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27 | (4) |
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(Fair Chloris in a pigsty lay) |
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Early Maturity (1672--1673) |
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31 | (1) |
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(What cruel pains Corinna takes) |
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32 | (1) |
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(Phyllis, be gentler, I advise) |
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33 | (1) |
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(Could I but make my wishes insolent) |
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34 | (1) |
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(She yields, she yields! Pale Envy said amen) |
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Two Translations from Lucretius |
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34 | (1) |
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(Great Mother of Aeneas, and of Love) |
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(The gods, by right of nature, must possess) |
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35 | (1) |
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35 | (2) |
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(O Love! how cold and slow to take my part) |
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37 | (3) |
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(Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms) |
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A Ramble in St. James's Park |
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40 | (6) |
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(Much wine had passed, with grave discourse) |
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46 | (2) |
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(Too long the wise Commons have been in debate) |
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48 | (1) |
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(Quoth the Duchess of Cleveland to counselor Knight) |
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The Second Prologue at Court to ``The Empress of Morocco,'' Spoken by the Lady Elizabeth Howard |
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49 | (2) |
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(Wit has of late took up a trick t' appear) |
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51 | (1) |
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(Love a woman? You're an ass) |
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52 | (1) |
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(Vulcan, contrive me such a cup) |
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53 | (1) |
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(The utmost grace the Greeks could show) |
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54 | (6) |
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(You ladies all of merry England) |
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60 | (5) |
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(I' th' isle of Britain, long since famous grown) |
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Tragic Maturity (1674--1675) |
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65 | (8) |
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(What, Timon! does old age begin t' approach) |
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73 | (8) |
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(At five this morn, when Phoebus raised his head) |
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Upon His Leaving His Mistress |
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81 | (1) |
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('Tis not that I am weary grown) |
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82 | (1) |
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(Tell me no more of constancy) |
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83 | (1) |
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(How happy, Chloris, were they free) |
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To a Lady in a Letter (final version) |
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84 | (1) |
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(Such perfect bliss, fair Chloris, we) |
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85 | (1) |
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(Leave this gaudy gilded stage) |
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86 | (1) |
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(How blest was the created state) |
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87 | (1) |
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(An age in her embraces passed) |
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88 | (1) |
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(Absent from thee, I languish still) |
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A Song of a Young Lady to Her Ancient Lover |
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89 | (1) |
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(Ancient person, for whom I) |
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90 | (1) |
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(All my past life is mine no more) |
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Epilogue to ``Love in the Dark,'' As It Was Spoke by Mr. Haines |
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91 | (3) |
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(As charms are nonsense, nonsense seems a charm) |
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A Satyr against Reason and Mankind |
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94 | (8) |
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(Were I who to my cost already am) |
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102 | (2) |
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(What vain, unnecessary things are men) |
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A Letter from Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country |
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104 | (9) |
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(Chloe, in verse by your command I write) |
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A Very Heroical Epistle in Answer to Ephelia |
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113 | (3) |
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(If you're deceived, it is not by my cheat) |
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116 | (2) |
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(As some brave admiral, in former war) |
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118 | (2) |
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(Nothing! thou elder brother even to Shade) |
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An Allusion to Horace, the Tenth Satyr of the First Book |
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120 | (9) |
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(Well, sir, 'tis granted I said Dryden's rhymes) |
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Disillusionment and Death (1676--1680) |
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129 | (1) |
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(When to the King I bid good morrow) |
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130 | (2) |
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(Son of a whore, God damn you! can you tell) |
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On the Supposed Author of a Late Poem in Defence of Satyr |
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132 | (2) |
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(To rack and torture thy unmeaning brain) |
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134 | (1) |
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(God bless our good and gracious King) |
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Impromptu on the English Court |
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135 | (1) |
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(Here's Monmouth the witty) |
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136 | (1) |
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(I swive as well as others do) |
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137 | (1) |
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(Her father gave her dildoes six) |
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137 | (2) |
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(Against the charms our ballocks have) |
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139 | (1) |
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(By all love's soft, yet mighty powers) |
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140 | (1) |
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(Some few, from wit, have this true maxim got) |
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141 | (1) |
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(Crushed by that just contempt his follies bring) |
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142 | (2) |
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(Bursting with pride, the loathed impostume swells) |
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An Epistolary Essay from M. G. to O. B. upon Their Mutual Poems |
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144 | (4) |
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(Dear friend, I hear this town does so abound) |
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148 | (1) |
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Answer to a Paper of Verses Sent Him by Lady Betty Felton and Taken out of the Translation of Ovid's ``Epistles,'' 1680 |
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149 | (1) |
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(What strange surprise to meet such words as these) |
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A Translation from Seneca's ``Troades,'' Act II, Chorus |
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150 | (5) |
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(After death nothing is, and nothing, death) |
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Poems Possibly by Rochester |
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To His Sacred Majesty, on His Restoration in the Year 1660 |
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155 | (1) |
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(Virtue's triumphant shrine! who dost engage) |
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In Obitum Serenissimae Mariae Principis Arausionensis |
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156 | (1) |
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(Impia blasphemi sileant convitia vulgi) |
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To Her Sacred Majesty, the Queen Mother, on the Death of Mary, Princess of Orange |
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157 | (2) |
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(Respite, great Queen, your just and hasty fears) |
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A Rodomontade on His Cruel Mistress |
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159 | (1) |
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(Trust not that thing called woman: she is worse) |
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159 | (1) |
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(Out of mere love and arrant devotion) |
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160 | (1) |
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(Injurious charmer of my vanquished heart) |
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Epigram on Samuel Pordage |
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161 | (1) |
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(Poet, whoe'er thou art, God damn thee) |
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161 | (2) |
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(If Rome can pardon sins, as Romans hold) |
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| Works Cited by Cue Titles in the Notes |
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163 | (6) |
| Notes on the Texts, Authorship, and Dates of the Poems |
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169 | (52) |
| First-Line List of Poems Omitted from This Edition |
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221 | (18) |
| Indexes |
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First-Line Index to the Poems |
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239 | (8) |
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247 | |
Other versions by this Author