John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

The Right Honourable

The Earl of Rochester
The Right Honourable; The Earl of Rochester
	Portrait by Peter Lely, 1677
Born	1 April 1647; Ditchley, Oxfordshire, England
Died	26 July 1680 (aged 33); Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England
Cause of death	Believed to be complications from syphilis
Resting place	Spelsbury, Oxfordshire, England
Alma mater	Wadham College ; University of Oxford
Notable work	A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind; A Letter From Artemesia; An Allusion to Horace; A Ramble in St James' Park; The Imperfect Enjoyment;
Style	2nd Earl of Rochester, 2nd Baron Wilmot of Adderbury, 3rd Viscount of Athlone (peerage of Ireland)
Spouse	Elizabeth Malet
Children	Charles Wilmot, 3rd Earl of Rochester (1671–1681); Lady Anne Greville; Elizabeth Montagu, Countess of Sandwich; Malet Vaughan, Viscountess Lisburne; Elizabeth (illegitimate daughter from Mrs Elizabeth Barry);
Parents	Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester; Anne St. John;

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court, who reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodied this new era, and he became as well known for his rakish lifestyle as for his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. He died as a result of a sexually transmitted infection at the age of 33.

Rochester was described by his contemporary Andrew Marvell as "the best English satirist", and he is generally considered to be the most considerable poet and the most learned among the Restoration wits. His poetry was widely censored during the Victorian era, but enjoyed a revival from the 1920s onwards, with reappraisals from noted literary figures such as Graham Greene and Ezra Pound. The critic Vivian de Sola Pinto linked Rochester's libertinism to Hobbesian materialism.

During his lifetime Rochester was best known for A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind and it remains among his best-known works today.

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