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A Satyr Against Reason And Mankind

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The journal article, “The Context, Design, and Argument of Rochester’s A Satyr against Reason and Mankind” by A.D. Cousins discusses the context of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester’s poem “A Satyr against Reason and Mankind”. The article was published in the Studies in English Literature. The article places the important poem and discusses how the poem is Rochester’s “tentative solution to the private and social disorder recurrently analyzed in his other poems, and that to understand the solution it implies one must recognize how it redefines “right reason” (Cousins 429). This article analyzes Rochester’s well-known poem as a criticism of life in the Restoration Age and compares this analysis to the libertine’s other poems. The author suggests that Rochester was so satirical because of his critique and disapproval of the disorder of Restoration life. Cousins goes on to declare that this disapproval was rooted in Charles II. The article continues to examine Rochester’s “A Satyr” and his other works and their statement against the Restoration society and the values. …show more content…

After establishing the place of “A Satyr” among Rochester’s other poems, Cousins insists that the poem is Rochester’s attempt to find order for existence and meaning. Cousins then continues by asserting that “A Satyr” is a stand-alone poem, while also having its own place in Rochester’s other pieces. According to, Cousins this poem is not the pessimistic prose of his former poems. It is the basis for Rochester’s hope in the Restoration period. The basis for this Restoration that Rochester envisions is for “right reason” to be followed and made to guide impulse and pleasure. If this were to happen the would be a start to overcoming disorder in

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