Hedonism, pleasure and authenticity in restoration literature: three textual inquiries in libertine poetry

Abstract

Th is paper investigates the treatment of hedonism and pleasure in some poems of the Restoration Era. Firstly, a contextualization of Charles II’s period is presented, where a number of examples from the past are mentioned. Secondly, the project will aim to explore the legacy of three renowned poets of the period ranging from 1660 to 1700: Aphra Behn, Sir George Etherege and John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Finally, it centers on the play anonymously published in 1684 entitled Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery. Essentially, the inferred explicit treatment of sexual topics is what marks a before and an aft er in the themes and rhetoric of English literature.