Wild (Wylde), Robert

(1609-1679)

   Born in St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, where his father was a shoemaker, he graduated B.A. (1636), and M.A. (1639) from St. John's College, Cambridge, and B.D. (1642) and D.D. (1660) from Oxford University. He was inducted into the living of Aynhoe, Northamptonshire, in 1646, but his non-conformist theology caused him to be ejected from his living in 1662, after which he was supported by friends. He died of a stroke. He had the reputation of being a wit, and in 1689 he wrote the comedy the Benefice. He wrote about many subjects, including the terrible sport of cock fighting (1660). Some of his publications: The Grateful Nonconformist, 1665. Iter Boreale, 1668. Upon the Rebuilding the City, 1670. Dr. Wild's Humble Thanks, 1672. Poetica Licentia, 1672. A Panegyrique Humbly Addrest to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty, 1673. Oliver Cromwell's Ghost, 1678. Exclamation Against Popery, 1678. Dr. Wild's Last Legacie, 1679. Dr. Wild's Poem, 1679. Some of his poems: "Alas Poore Scholler, Whither Wilt Thou Goe," "An Epitaph for a Godly Man's Tomb," "On His Preaching," "Sonnet-To the Mocking-Bird."

   Sources: Anthology of Poems on Affairs of State: Augustan Satirical Verse, 1660-1714. George de F. Lord, ed. Yale University Press, 1975. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Colum418 bia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Faber Book of Epigrams and Epitaphs. Geoffrey Grigson, ed. Faber and Faber, 1977. The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse 15091659. David Norbrook, ed. Penguin Books, 1992.