A sexually explicit poem thought to have been written by John Milton has sparked controversy amongst academics.
The handwritten poem, titled “An Extempore upon a Faggot”, was discovered by Jennifer Batt, an English lecturer at Oxford, while reading a forgotten early 18th Century poetic anthology.
Although it appears to be signed by Milton, there is doubt over whether the work can be attributed to the author of ‘Paradise Lost’.
“To see the name of John Milton, the great religious and political polemicist, attached to such a bawdy epigram, is extremely surprising to say the least,” Dr Batt said.
“The poem is so out of tune with the rest of his work, that if the attribution is correct, it would prompt a major revision of our ideas about Milton. It is likely that Milton’s name was used as an attribution to bring scandal upon the poet, perhaps by a jealous contemporary.”
Dr Abigail Williams, who is leading the project at Oxford to digitise 18th Century poetic miscellanies in which this poem was found, said that at the time of the rhyme’s publication Milton “was much more famous for his politics and having sanctioned regicide than he was as a poet”.
The rhyme “could have been written to discredit Milton, who had set himself up as a self-righteous puritan. The verse is saying, ‘Actually, he was just as dirty as the rest of us.'”
An English student commented on the findings, saying, “Studying Milton would be much more exciting if all his work was like this”.
An Extempore upon a Faggot
Have you not in a chimney seen
A Faggot which is moist and green
How coyly it receives the Heat
And at both ends do’s weep and sweat
So fares it with a tender Maid
When first upon her back she’s laid
But like dry Wood th’ experienced Dame
Cracks and rejoices in the Flame.
