A Satire

The narrator now calls for a “churchman who on God relies” (Rochester 30). With the attention on the churchmen, he airs their sins. The churchmen are with whom the narrator has his biggest problem. He reprimands them for chiding kings, railing at men of sense, and then begins his disgust at their sins against God, “None of that sensual tribe, whose talents lie / In avarice, pride, sloth, and gluttony. / Who hunt good livings, but abhor good lives” (Rochester 30). The narrator continues to list the wrongness of the church and of the “men of God.” He accuses these men of worrying more about monetary gains than of their souls or anyone else. In the final part of the poem, the narrator calls for a true man of God. “If upon Earth there dwell such god-like men, / I’ll here recant my paradox to them” (Rochester 30)—the narrator has yet to meet this type of man but hopes he is in the world. The last line is reminiscent of “A Satire”, and the beast analogy” “Man differs more from man than man from beast” (Rochester 30). According to the narrator, no man is equal to that of what man should be. This poem reveals many of Rochester’s opinions towards the church and the crown. Although throughout much of his poetry, Rochester blames King Charles

He believes the pre-fall world was perfection. The reasoning can be traced back to “A Satire” and the hatred for reason and wit. He describes the bliss of this knowledgeless life, “Enjoyment waited on desire…Now could a wish set pleasure higher” (Rochester 42). This bliss is unknown by the people of the Restoration, “But we, poor slaves to hope and fear / Are never of our joys secure” (Rochester 42). This is a poem written by a man in complete discontent with his life; it is pessimistic and brooding, but it cannot be stated that the man who wrote the piece was a misanthrope. This poem was written by a man who saw the world as damned and hoped for