dicere deseruit, tenuisque recessit in auras. •John Dryden (9 August 1631 – 1 May 1700) was a prominent English poet, critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of the Restoration Age; … As a boy, Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, where it is likely that he received his first education. But unlike satire, it comes to a final, tragic resolution. In this work Dryden was once again gilding the royal image and reinforcing the concept of a loyal nation united under the best of kings. : Flecknoe was contemporary poet of John Dryden. [38] The marriage was at St. Swithin's, London, and the consent of the parents is noted on the licence, though Lady Elizabeth was then about twenty-five. The son of a country gentleman, Dryden grew up in the country. When he was 11 years old the Civil War broke out. Both his father’s and mother’s families sided with Parliament against the king, but Dryden’s own sympathies in his youth are unknown. What Dryden did between leaving the university in 1654 and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 is not known with certainty. This work is a defense of English drama against the champions of both ancient Classical drama and the Neoclassical French theatre; it is also an attempt to discover general principles of dramatic criticism. At Cromwell's funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden processed with the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell. [17] His final translations appeared in the volume Fables Ancient and Modern (1700), a series of episodes from Homer, Ovid, and Boccaccio, as well as modernised adaptations from Geoffrey Chaucer interspersed with Dryden's own poems. All for Love or, the World Well Lost, is a 1677 heroic drama by John Dryden … Dryden offered his tragedy Oedipus, a collaboration with Nathaniel Lee, to a rival theatre company and ceased to be a Killigrew shareholder. His first play, The Wild Gallant, a farcical comedy with some strokes of humour and a good deal of licentious dialogue, was produced in 1663. [31], The phrase "blaze of glory" is believed to have originated in Dryden's 1686 poem The Hind and the Panther, referring to the throne of God as a "blaze of glory that forbids the sight. His best known dramatic works are Marriage á la Mode (1672) and All for Love (1678), which was written in blank verse. betray little of the private man. These two poems were designed to dignify and strengthen the monarchy and to invest the young monarch with an aura of majesty, permanence, and even divinity. He was a second cousin once removed of Jonathan Swift. Shortly thereafter he published his first important poem, Heroic Stanzas (1659), a eulogy on Cromwell's death which is cautious and prudent in its emotional display. "[25] However, in the same essay, Eliot accused Dryden of having a "commonplace mind." The prefaces to his plays and translations over the next three decades were to constitute a substantial body of critical writing and reflection. In due course she bore him three sons. One of the first attacks on Dryden's reputation was by William Wordsworth, who complained that Dryden's descriptions of natural objects in his translations from Virgil were much inferior to the originals. Dryden's greatest achievements were in satiric verse: the mock-heroic Mac Flecknoe, a more personal product of his laureate years, was a lampoon circulated in manuscript and an attack on the playwright Thomas Shadwell. John Dryden was a famous English poet who was made the first Poet Laureate of England. Q.3. John Keats admired the "Fables," and imitated them in his poem Lamia. ", While Dryden had many admirers, he also had his share of critics, Mark Van Doren among them. "He...recognized that Virgil 'had the advantage of a language wherein much may be comprehended in a little space' (5:329–30). It is a tragedy written in blank verse and is an attempt on Dryden’s part to reinvigorate serious drama. [1], He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. John Dryden, (born August 9 [August 19, New Style], 1631, Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, England—died May 1 [May 12], 1700, London), English poet, dramatist, and literary critic who so dominated the literary scene of his day that it came to be known as the Age of Dryden. 1989. In addition to satires, Dryden wrote elegies, prologues, epilogues, odes, and panegyrics. For the coronation in 1661, he wrote To His Sacred Majesty. [13] Dryden survived the attack, offering £50 for the identity of the thugs placed in the London Gazette, and a Royal Pardon if one of them would confess. Dryden was the dominant literary figure and influence of his age. The way I have taken, is not so streight as Metaphrase, nor so loose as Paraphrase: Some things too I have omitted, and sometimes added of my own. [41] Lady Elizabeth Dryden survived her husband, but went insane soon after his death. Share with your friends. Updates? [19] He lived at 137 Long Acre from 1682 to 1686 and at 43 Gerrard Street from 1686 until his death. Returning to London during the Protectorate, Dryden obtained work with Oliver Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe. He also wrote almost 30 plays and was one of the great dramatists of his time. It is a tragedy written in empty verse and is an attempt by Dryden to revive serious drama. It was hardly surprising that when the poet laureate, Sir William Davenant, died in 1668, Dryden was appointed poet laureate in his place and two years later was appointed royal historiographer. Although Dryden averaged only a play a year, the contract apparently was mutually profitable. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Simplicity gave him no pleasure." In 1654 he obtained his BA, graduating top of the list for Trinity that year. I strove to speak: but horror tied my tongue; He felt strongly about the relation of the poet to tradition and the creative process, and his best heroic play Aureng-zebe (1675) has a prologue which denounces the use of rhyme in serious drama. Although initially famous for his plays, Dryden is today highly regarded for his critical writings as well as his satirical and didactic poems. Dryden constantly defended his own literary practice, and Of Dramatick Poesie, the longest of his critical works, takes the form of a dialogue in which four characters—each based on a prominent contemporary, with Dryden himself as 'Neander'—debate the merits of classical, French and English drama. Romanticist writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John".[2]. John Dryden was born in Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, England, the eldest of fourteen children of Erasmus Dryden (c.1602–1654) and Mary Pickering (d. 1676). Dryden was also very influential due to his translations of Homer, Lucretius, Horace, Ovid, Juvenal, Persius, Giovanni Boccaccio, Geoffrey Chaucer, and notably Virgil. Light as an empty dream at break of day, https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dryden, Poetry Foundation - Biography of John Dryden, Westminster Abbey - Biography of John Dryden, Academy of American Poets - Biography of John Dryden, John Dryden - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), “The Conquest of Granada of the Spaniards”. His years at Westminster were not uneventful, and his first published poem, an elegy with a strong royalist feel on the death of his schoolmate Henry, Lord Hastings from smallpox, alludes to the execution of King Charles I, which took place on 30 January 1649, very near the school where Dr. Busby had first prayed for the King and then locked in his schoolboys to prevent their attending the spectacle. It is an acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and focuses on the last hours of the lives of its hero and heroine. In line 790 the literal translation of haec ubi dicta dedit is "when she gave these words." These, and his other nondramatic poems, are occasional—that is, they celebrate public events. [39] Both Dryden and his wife were warmly attached to their children. The flexibility in his forms of writing marked him as a legend of the 17th century. [20], In his will, he left The George Inn at Northampton to trustees, to form a school for the children of the poor of the town. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The English author John Dryden (1631-1700) is best known as a poet and critic. However, several of Wordsworth's contemporaries, such as George Crabbe, Lord Byron, and Walter Scott (who edited Dryden's works), were still keen admirers of Dryden. In 1650 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. It was a comparative failure, but in January 1664 he had some share in the success of The Indian Queen, a heroic tragedy in rhymed couplets in which he had collaborated with Sir Robert Howard, his brother-in-law. The considerable loss felt by the English literary community at his death was evident in the elegies written about him. He was made Poet Laureate in 1668. Pope famously praised Dryden's versification in his imitation of Horace's Epistle II.i: "Dryden taught to join / The varying pause, the full resounding line, / The long majestic march, and energy divine." Dryden's main goal in the work is to "satirize Shadwell, ostensibly for his offenses against literature but more immediately we may suppose for his habitual badgering of him on the stage and in print. But "she said" gets the point across, uses half the words, and makes for better English. And, thrice deceiv'd, on vain embraces hung. He established the heroic couplet as a standard form of English poetry by writing successful satires, religious pieces, fables, epigrams, compliments, prologues, and plays with it; he also introduced the alexandrine and triplet into the form. After the Restoration, as Dryden quickly established himself as the leading poet and literary critic of his day, he transferred his allegiances to the new government. ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum; Curiously, little is known about his private life or opinions, as his works (celebratory odes, plays, didactic prose, etc.) This became John Dryden's School, later The Orange School.[21]. [44], "Dryden" redirects here. Thomas Shadwell succeeded him as Poet Laureate, and he was forced to give up his public offices and live by the proceeds of his pen. John Dryden, (born August 9 [August 19, New Style], 1631, Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, England--died May 1 [May 12], 1700, London), English poet, dramatist, and literary critic who so dominated the literary scene of his day that it came to be known as the Age of Dryden.. Does harmony refer to how fast music is played? Later 19th-century writers had little use for verse satire, Pope, or Dryden; Matthew Arnold famously dismissed them as "classics of our prose." In this work the interregnum is illustrated as a time of chaos, and Charles is seen as the restorer of peace and order. On December 1, 1663, he married Elizabeth Howard, the youngest daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st earl of Berkshire. His works are known for their dullness and stupidity. That year he wrote his spirited defense of his stylish innovations An Essay of Dramatick Poesie. His most famous poem, Absalom and Achitophel (1681) contains several brilliant satiric portraits. Dryden's translation is based on presumed authorial intent and smooth English. In Florimel’s rattling exchanges with Celadon, the Restoration aptitude for witty repartee reached a new level of accomplishment. His first play The Wild Gallant appeared in 1663, and was not successful, but was still promising, and from 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company in which he became a shareholder. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar where his headmaster was Dr. Richard Busby, a charismatic teacher and severe disciplinarian. Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, 2002, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. No one claimed the reward.[12]. As a writer, John Dryden is known to be very versatile and succeeded in many different written forms (poetry, prose, plays). 7a–11a, "Three Books for the Grammar Lover in Your Life : NPR", Poems by John Dryden at PoetryFoundation.org, Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Dryden&oldid=992420107, 17th-century English dramatists and playwrights, Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism, People educated at Westminster School, London, Articles incorporating DNB text with Wikisource reference, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Poet, literary critic, playwright, librettist, Wilding, Michael, 'Allusion and Innuendo in MacFlecknoe', Essays in Criticism, 19 (1969) 355-70, Stark, Ryan. John Dryden (/ˈdraɪdən/; 19 August [O.S. [23] Dryden's heroic couplet became the dominant poetic form of the 18th century. Dryden later removed 'objectionable material' from the original, before submitting the manuscript for publication, hence the date of 1680. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The son of a country gentleman, Dryden grew up in the country. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. He led the way in Restoration comedy, his best-known work being Marriage à la Mode (1672), as well as heroic tragedy and regular tragedy, in which his greatest success was All for Love (1678). [43], Dates given are (acted/published) and unless otherwise noted are taken from Scott's edition. Thus having pass'd the night in fruitless pain, However, Dryden was inactive in Society affairs and in 1666 was expelled for non-payment of his dues. The 'way to please the best Judges...is not to Translate a Poet literally; and Virgil least of any other' (5:329)."[33]. [37], On 1 December 1663 Dryden married Lady Elizabeth Howard (died 1714). 1.0 Introduction • John Dryden (9 August 1631 – 1 May 1700) was a prominent English poet, critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of the Restoration Age; therefore, the age is known as the Age of Dryden. [30] Dryden often translated his writing into Latin, to check whether his writing was concise and elegant, Latin being considered an elegant and long-lived language with which to compare; then Dryden translated his writing back to English according to Latin-grammar usage. Curious Learners podcast gliding pass 'd unseen in air noted are taken from Scott 's edition, and! Modern English literature, University College, University College, Cambridge, where it is likely that he received first. 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