AN ESSAY ON WOMAN, And Other Pieces Printed At The Private Press In Great George Street, Westminster, In 1763, And Now Reproduced In Fac-simile From A Copy Believed To Be Unique To Which Are Added Epigrams And Miscellaneous Poems Now First Collected

by John Wilkes

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfectionssuch as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact,or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections,have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed worksworldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition ++++ An Essay On Woman, In Three Epistels John Wilkes Gretton, 1763

Genres: 18th Century

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1763

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stumbled upon the story of John Wilkes when reading Conceived in Liberty, and Rothbard made mention of this little series of poems and how they messed with John Wilkes' career and ambitions. John Wilkes was a Whig politician and Libertine, very charismatic, of a generally low character but apparently not entirely without scruples.

Wilkes' Essay on Woman caused quite an uproar in his time, and I can see why. It's a deeply misogynistic work, pretentious, scandalizing, without much artistic or intellectual merit. Just browse the wrong subreddits for twenty minutes and you have ingested what is Wilkes' contribution to gender theory: Women are bad, women are lustful, women cannot restrain themselves, they lack character, they are not as smart as John Wilkes men, etc. It's every stereotype packed into mediocre verse.

It was interesting to read for historical reasons. Not only does John Wilkes say exactly what modern misogynists say, over two hundred years before we had mean reddit users and Elliot Rodger, he was also a respected figure of the Enlightenment. Yes, these poems did tarnish his reputation, but they did not cost him his career or his legacy by any means. This should tell you a lot about the times he lived in, which, after all, also produced the Marquis de Sade, who operated in much the same circles. As a counterpoint, contrast these men with the Troubadours ( From Dawn to Dawn is a fine anthology of their translated poems), who were the womanizers of their time but prudes by modern standards.