The Disabled Debauchee (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
- First Published: 1680
- Type of Work: Mock epic
- Genres: Poetry, Mock-heroic poetry
- Subjects: Sex or sexuality, England or English people, Alcohol, Seventeenth century, Drinking or drunkenness, Nobility
The Poem
“The Disabled Debauchee,” called in some texts “The Maim’d Debauchee” or “The Maim’d Drunkard,” is written in a form known as the heroic stanza. The heroic stanza was used by poets of John Wilmot, earl of Rochester’s day for epic verse; some notable examples include John Dryden’s Heroic Stanzas (1659) and Annus Mirabilis (1667) and Sir William Davenant’s Gondibert (1651).
The speaker in “The Disabled Debauchee” cannot necessarily be identified with Rochester himself. Though part of the poem’s intent is to mock the...
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