Dryden, John

Dryden, John, 1631–1700, English poet, dramatist, and critic, b. Northamptonshire, grad. Cambridge, 1654. He went to London about 1657 and first came to public notice with his Heroic Stanzas (1659), commemorating the death of Oliver Cromwell. The following year, however, he celebrated the restoration of Charles II with Astraea Redux. In 1662 he was elected to the Royal Society, and in 1663 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard. His long poem on the Dutch War, Annus Mirabilis, appeared in 1667. The following year he became poet laureate. He had a long and varied career as a dramatist. His most notable plays include the heroic dramas, The Conquest of Granada (2 parts, 1670–71) and Aurenz-Zebe (1675); his blank-verse masterpiece, All for Love (1677), a retelling of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra; and the comedy Marriage à la Mode (1672). His great political satire on Monmouth and Shaftesbury, Absalom and Achitophel, appeared in two parts (1681, 1682). It was followed by MacFlecknoe (1682), an attack on Thomas Shadwell, and Religio Laici (1682), a poetical exposition of the Protestant layman's creed. In 1687, however, Dryden announced his conversion to Roman Catholicism in The Hind and the Panther. The preceding poems, as well as his Pindaric odes, "Alexander's Feast" and "Ode to the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew," place him among the most notable English poets. With the accession of the Protestant William III, Dryden lost his laureateship and court patronage. Throughout his life he wrote brilliant critical prefaces, prologues, and discourses, dealing with the principles of literary excellence. The best example is his Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668). The last part of his life was occupied largely with translations from Juvenal, Vergil, and others. A 21-volume edition of his complete works was begun in 1956 under the general editorship of E. N. Hooker and H. T. Swedenberg.

Bibliography

See biography by C. E. Ward (1961); studies by L. I. Brevold (1953), M. Van Doren (1920, repr. 1969), J. and H. Kinsley, ed. (1971), A. C. Kirsch (1965, repr. 1972), E. Miner, ed. (1973); J. M. Hall (1984).

---

Dryden, John

(born Aug. 9, 1631, Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, Eng.—died May 1, 1700, London) British poet, dramatist, and literary critic. The son of a country gentleman, Dryden was educated at the University of Cambridge. His poetry celebrating the Restoration so pleased Charles II that he was named poet laureate (1668) and, two years later, royal historiographer. Even after losing the laureateship and his court patronage in 1688 with the accession of William III, he succeeded in dominating the literary scene with his numerous works, many attuned to politics and public life. Several of his nearly 30 comedies, tragedies, and dramatic operas—including Marriage A-la-Mode (1672), Aureng-Zebe (1675), and All for Love (1677)—were outstandingly successful. His Of Dramatick Poesie (1668) was the first substantial piece of modern dramatic criticism. Turning away from drama, he became England's greatest verse satirist, producing the masterpieces Absalom and Achitophel (1681) and Mac Flecknoe (1682). He also produced extensive translations of Latin poetry, including Virgil's Aeneid.

---

Dryden, John 

Born Aug. 7, 1631, in Aldwinkle All Saints, Northamptonshire; died May 1, 1700, in London. English poet, dramatist, and critic; one of the founders of English classicism.

During the English bourgeois revolution Dryden eulogized Cromwell in an ode on his death (1658), while during the Restoration he glorified the monarchy in the satirical poem Absalom and Achitophel (1681). The best of Dryden’s tragi-comedies are Secret Love, or the Maiden Queen (1668) and Love Triumphant (1694); his greatest heroic plays are The Indian Emperor > or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards (1667) and The Conquest of Granada (1672). Dryden’s best poetic work is the ode Alexander’s Feast, or the Power of Music (1697; Russian translation by V. A. Zhukovskii), which was put to music by G. F. Handel.

WORKS

Works, vols. 1-18. Edinburgh, 1882-93.
Poems, vols. 1-4. Oxford, 1958.
Literary Criticism. Lincoln [1966].

REFERENCES

Verkhovskii, N. P. “Draiden i Shekspir.” Uch. zap. LGU. Seriia filologicheskikh nauk, 1944, v. 9.
Istoriia zapadno-evropeiskogo teatra, vols. 1-2. Edited by S. S. Mokul’skii. Moscow, 1956-57.
Essential Articles for the Study of John Dryden. Hamden, Conn., 1966. (Bibliography on pp. 586-87.)
Miner, E. Dryden’s Poetry. Bloomington-London, 1967. (Bibliography on pp. 327-34.)
Davison, D. Dryden. London, 1968. (Bibliography on pp. 147-49.)
Macdonald, H. John Dryden: A Bibliography of Early Editions and of Drydeniana. [London] 1966.

E. V. KORNILOVA