Aphra Behn Was One Wicked Woman

Language Log talks about poo, but not in the way you think. Mark discusses the uses of excrement as metaphor for language and folly. Seventeenth and eighteenth century literature holds many gems and I am always amused when bodily functions are used as explanations of folly. Take for instance, Restoration Literature, which is literally the explosion of all ribald jokes held in check by Cromwell and his government.

Well, mostly anyway, because this was also a time when writings on religion were occurring with frequency. Milton was a contemporary of the period that gave us the Earl of Rochester, but I doubt they were drinking buddies.

–Jane, misses English class