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Blazing Star: The Life and Times of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
Restoration England witnessed an extraordinary flowering of literature, music, architecture and science. At the centre of the burgeoning cultural life of the age was John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester.
A peerlessly witty satirist, Rochester epitomised the manners of the court of Charles II. But he was also a libertine and drunkard, a writer of scandalously offensive poetry who got himself banned from court. Rochester died of syphilis at the age of just 33, leaving behind him a mystery as to the true nature of his character.
ROCHESTER is a compelling portrait of a remarkable yet complex man and of a cultural golden age that often spilled over into depravity.
A peerlessly witty satirist, Rochester epitomised the manners of the court of Charles II. But he was also a libertine and drunkard, a writer of scandalously offensive poetry who got himself banned from court. Rochester died of syphilis at the age of just 33, leaving behind him a mystery as to the true nature of his character.
ROCHESTER is a compelling portrait of a remarkable yet complex man and of a cultural golden age that often spilled over into depravity.
352 pages, ebook
First published July 3, 2014
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About the author
Alexander Larman
9 books106 followersAlexander Larman is an author, historian and journalist. After reading English at Oxford, from where he graduated with a First, he ghost-wrote and edited various memoirs and biographies, including the late artist and flâneur Sebastian Horsley’s Dandy In The Underworld. His involvement with the book led Horsley to say ‘there is no man in London more capable of genius – or a flop – than Alexander Larman’.
He began his own writing career with Blazing Star (Head of Zeus, 2014), a biography of the 17th century poet and libertine Lord Rochester, and followed this with Restoration (Head of Zeus, 2016) a social history of the year 1666, and Byron’s Women (Head of Zeus, 2016), an ‘anti-biography’ of the poet Lord Byron and the significant women in his life. His next book, The Crown in Crisis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020) was a revisionist history of the abdication saga. It was selected by the Times, Daily Mail and Daily Express as one of their best books of the year and led to significant international media coverage of the new revelations about the event.
As a journalist, Larman regularly contributes to titles including The Observer, The Critic, the Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and The Chap, for which he serves as literary editor. He lives in Oxford with his wife and daughter.
He began his own writing career with Blazing Star (Head of Zeus, 2014), a biography of the 17th century poet and libertine Lord Rochester, and followed this with Restoration (Head of Zeus, 2016) a social history of the year 1666, and Byron’s Women (Head of Zeus, 2016), an ‘anti-biography’ of the poet Lord Byron and the significant women in his life. His next book, The Crown in Crisis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020) was a revisionist history of the abdication saga. It was selected by the Times, Daily Mail and Daily Express as one of their best books of the year and led to significant international media coverage of the new revelations about the event.
As a journalist, Larman regularly contributes to titles including The Observer, The Critic, the Daily Telegraph, The Spectator and The Chap, for which he serves as literary editor. He lives in Oxford with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 26, 2016
This is a historical biography written by a journalist and thus may suit general readers who want a light and popular view of Rochester and the Restoration court of Charles II: anyone with a deeper or more informed interest in the man, the poetry, or the times may find themselves increasingly frustrated.
As is frequently the case with writers who are not professional historians or literary scholars, this makes lots of sweeping claims, depends overwhelmingly on the `might haves', `perhaps', and `surely Rochester must haves' which indicate either a lack of sources or, as in this case, a lack of engagement with the primary sources. For example, Larman takes a set of memoirs written by a one-time travelling companion of Rochester and decides to "take this account and retrospectively apply it to his journey with Rochester, even if the latter is not mentioned by name once in the story... assuming for the sake of argument that Balfour's account in his book relates to his travels with Rochester, their adventure can be constructed in precise detail"... the so-called `precise detail' is thus dependent on an unverified assumption and contingencies which Larman simply magics away. The constant stream of `it is likely that', `Rochester might well have', `it seems unthinkable that he was not', `it is possible, with some imaginative license, to reconstruct' began to grate more and more.
As well as this cavalier attitude towards the sources (and Rochester has left many letters written both by him and to him, plus there are plenty of state papers as well as memoirs beyond Pepys from this period), Larman is not a writer to pass up a cliché: Rochester is drawn to conflict `like a moth to a flame', `the gutters ran red with Royalist gore', and `the old order was about to be overthrown forever'.
Readings of Rochester's poetry, too, are unsubtle and unnuanced: either the poetry is supposed to be an authentic outpouring of sincere emotion, or Rochester is acting - the idea of poetry being also shaped by genre, cultural convention and literary tradition is not acknowledged. For example, love poetry which depicts `Rochester' (more properly, the narrator) as in thrall to an inconstant mistress is described by Larman as `surprising' and `unusual' as if Catullus, Thomas Wyatt, John Donne, and the Shakespeare of the 'dark lady' sonnets had never traced exactly the same literary scenario.
I love Rochester and his poetry and had been looking forward to spending some time in his company via this book - sadly, I never felt Rochester's wit, his charisma or his complex personality really came to life here. For a better biography, I would recommend A Profane Wit: The Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and for a first hand encounter with Rochester the man and the poet, his letters (The Letters of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester) and Oxford's up-to-date edition of some of his poetry, Selected Poems.
General readers may not be bothered by the unscholarly approaches of this book (which is fine) but it is worth knowing what to expect.
As is frequently the case with writers who are not professional historians or literary scholars, this makes lots of sweeping claims, depends overwhelmingly on the `might haves', `perhaps', and `surely Rochester must haves' which indicate either a lack of sources or, as in this case, a lack of engagement with the primary sources. For example, Larman takes a set of memoirs written by a one-time travelling companion of Rochester and decides to "take this account and retrospectively apply it to his journey with Rochester, even if the latter is not mentioned by name once in the story... assuming for the sake of argument that Balfour's account in his book relates to his travels with Rochester, their adventure can be constructed in precise detail"... the so-called `precise detail' is thus dependent on an unverified assumption and contingencies which Larman simply magics away. The constant stream of `it is likely that', `Rochester might well have', `it seems unthinkable that he was not', `it is possible, with some imaginative license, to reconstruct' began to grate more and more.
As well as this cavalier attitude towards the sources (and Rochester has left many letters written both by him and to him, plus there are plenty of state papers as well as memoirs beyond Pepys from this period), Larman is not a writer to pass up a cliché: Rochester is drawn to conflict `like a moth to a flame', `the gutters ran red with Royalist gore', and `the old order was about to be overthrown forever'.
Readings of Rochester's poetry, too, are unsubtle and unnuanced: either the poetry is supposed to be an authentic outpouring of sincere emotion, or Rochester is acting - the idea of poetry being also shaped by genre, cultural convention and literary tradition is not acknowledged. For example, love poetry which depicts `Rochester' (more properly, the narrator) as in thrall to an inconstant mistress is described by Larman as `surprising' and `unusual' as if Catullus, Thomas Wyatt, John Donne, and the Shakespeare of the 'dark lady' sonnets had never traced exactly the same literary scenario.
I love Rochester and his poetry and had been looking forward to spending some time in his company via this book - sadly, I never felt Rochester's wit, his charisma or his complex personality really came to life here. For a better biography, I would recommend A Profane Wit: The Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, and for a first hand encounter with Rochester the man and the poet, his letters (The Letters of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester) and Oxford's up-to-date edition of some of his poetry, Selected Poems.
General readers may not be bothered by the unscholarly approaches of this book (which is fine) but it is worth knowing what to expect.
July 14, 2016
While I really enjoy anything that is Rochester related this was more a combination of biography and history of the time.
I really enjoyed the writing style, and actually the history as well - it was very contextual for me. While I didn't necessarily learn much that was new, it was good and interesting, also a good place to start if you've never read anything about Rochester and his life before.
I really enjoyed the writing style, and actually the history as well - it was very contextual for me. While I didn't necessarily learn much that was new, it was good and interesting, also a good place to start if you've never read anything about Rochester and his life before.
July 15, 2020
John Wilmot was a favourite at the court of Charles II and also a poet, a wit, a war hero and a libertine. His excessive drinking and fornicating led to an early death from syphilis at the age of 33. His life is an interesting one and this biography reads very well.
August 25, 2015
Not sure how you can manage to make a biography of the Earl of Rochester boring, but this guy did it.
September 8, 2020
An interesting and entertainingly written biography of John Wilmot the notorious Earl of Rochester - poet, satirist, wit, debauchee, husband, father, loyal friend and altogether fascinating person, that relies a bit too heavily at times on what might have been. Having said that, Larman's suppositions are based on (occasionally, thinly stretched) possibilities and this is something he also acknowledges. There's no doubt, Rochester, as a Restoration figure, a writer of extraordinary talent and personal daring who distinguished himself as much through his drunken antics as he did through his polarising and deliberately provocative writings - on sex, love, religion, fate - defines the times. Larman also places Rochester firmly in the context of the period with all its political upheavals, sexual liberation and changing mores, which adds colourful flesh and a deeper understanding of the man as well. I enjoyed this book very much but understand that for those looking for a more academic rendering of Rochester's life and work, might not find it as satisfying as I certainly did.
March 12, 2025
This book is interesting but in the end it failed to fully capture my attention. I don't think this is purely down to the writing but more that I found John Wilmot to be a ghastly man with no redeeming features who completely deserved his early and painful death. The only real pity is the pain and suffering that he brought to others through his self indulgent stupidity.
I am not a great fan of poetry and thus not competent to make a proper judgment regarding his work but to me it seemed for the most part to be crude and poor.
I am not a great fan of poetry and thus not competent to make a proper judgment regarding his work but to me it seemed for the most part to be crude and poor.
January 29, 2021
At times crude and sordid because its subject is regularly crude and sordid, this book nevertheless succeeds in giving a rounded view of the scandal-ridden John Wilmot, 2nd earl of Rochester.
I have to admit that I speed-read some parts, but mostly this book is informative, at times hilarious, and I learned a lot about late 17th Century England to boot.
I have to admit that I speed-read some parts, but mostly this book is informative, at times hilarious, and I learned a lot about late 17th Century England to boot.
June 27, 2021
Almost unbelievable character who is such a good example of those who you don't know whether to love or hate. Wonder what we would have known if his writings were not destroyed. A classic profligate who contradicts himself - is brave and cowardly in equal measure. As Dr Bendo I think he brings all of these together so well.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2016
As a scholar of Wilmot, I can assure you that this is by no means an accurate depiction/explanation of Wilmot's life or works. The text seemingly navigates between poor assumptions about his character and faulty literary analysis. If I could give it less than one star, I would.
December 29, 2014
I am unmoved.
Really hard work reading this. I don't feel like I finished the book convinced of either Rochester's genius or his relative importance to the Restoration period.
Really hard work reading this. I don't feel like I finished the book convinced of either Rochester's genius or his relative importance to the Restoration period.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews