John Oldham
born Aug. 9, 1653, Shipton Moyne,
Gloucestershire, Eng.
died Dec. 9, 1683, Holm Pierrepont, near
Nottingham
pioneer of the imitation of classical satire
in English.
Oldham was the son of a scholarly vicar who
was responsible for much of his education; he
also studied at Tetbury Grammar School for two
years. From 1670 to 1674 he attended St. Edmund
Hall, Oxford, and in 1676 he became an usher at
Whitgift School, Croydon. His poems attracted
the attention of the earl of Rochester, who
visited him at Croydon and is said to have “much
delighted” in his poetry. Oldham’s imitation of
Moschus’s elegy on Bion, written at Rochester’s
death, contains a touching expression of his
gratitude to him. In 1677 he attempted,
apparently unsuccessfully, to win recognition at
court by writing a poem on the marriage of the
Princess Mary to William of Orange. While a
resident of London, he was on the fringe of the
“court wits” and composed several satires, some
obscene, to amuse this circle. He also met John
Dryden, who was to mourn him in a noble elegy.
Oldham has a notable place in the development
of Augustan poetry. The four Satyrs upon the
Jesuits (1681), including “Garnet’s Ghost,”
previously published as a broadsheet in 1679,
met with considerable contemporary success and
constitute his most widely known work. They are
forceful but melodramatic, crowded with coarse
images and uneven versification, an attempt to
imitate the invective of Juvenal. While seeking
patronage as a writer, Oldham earned his living
by working as a private tutor. In his last year
he composed a series of satirical pieces,
including imitations of Juvenal and the French
poet Nicolas Boileau. His satires have the
novelty of being directed toward general
subjects rather than being personal lampoons.
