A Rake's Progress A Rake's Progress A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–34, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. The series shows the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, the spendthrift son and heir of a rich merchant, who comes to London, wastes all his money on luxurious living, prostitution and gambling, and as a consequence is imprisoned in the Fleet Prison and ultimately Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam). The original paintings are in the collection of Sir John Soane's Museum in London, where they are
William S. Penn William S. Penn William S. Penn (born 1949) is a writer and English professor at Michigan State University. William S. Penn is an urban mixed-blood Nez Perce. Born and raised in the West, he has lived in many different regions of the United States, as well as in England. He was educated at the University of California at Davis and at Syracuse University. He previously taught at the State University of New York at Oswego and at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx. He teaches courses in the oral tradition, comedy and cultural survival, the literatures of the Americas,