John Dryden

Biography of John Dryden (1631 – 1700)

John Dryden
John Dryden (1631-1700)

John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential British poet, literary critic, and playwright.

He was born in a village rectory near Oundle in Northamptonshire and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a professional writer throughout his life. His early plays, often heroic tragedy, met with highly variable success but served to promote his name and his Royalist sentiments. Arriving in London during the Protectorate, he attempted to capitalise on the Parliamentarian sympathies of his family, but failed to make much impact until the Restoration of King Charles II. His poem, Astrea Redux, in honour of this event, made him a name.

Dryden turned to the stage for a living, and soon became the most successful dramatist of the decade following the Restoration. He wrote in both of the dominant genres of the period: heroic verse drama and comedy of manners. He wrote for money, and claimed that the only one of his plays he cared for was All For Love (1677).

The Indian Emperor is a wholly fictitious account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards.

Dryden was a contentious personality, and frequently entered upon literary wars with other prominent writers. He savagely attacked playwright Thomas Shadwell in the poem MacFlecknoe, and attacked both Shadwell and Elkanah Settle in part two of Absalom and Achitophel.

By 1663, the year he was made a fellow of the Royal Society, he was prominent enough to be accepted as a suitable husband for Lady Elizabeth Howard, but his reputation was not really made until Annus Mirabilis, a celebration of the events of 1666. In 1668, he was appointed to succeed William Davenant as Poet Laureate, a post which he lost when King James II was deposed twenty years later. He continued to lead the way in Restoration comedy, his best known work being Marriage A-la-Mode (1672).

From the 1680s Dryden concentrated on poetry where his use of the rhymed couplet is considered brilliant, although he continued to write plays and composed several librettoes. In 1686 he converted to Catholicism. He also made some popular translations of Virgil’s Aeneid and works by Horace, Ovid and Homer. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

His eldest son, Charles Dryden, became chamberlain to Pope Innocent XII.

Biography By: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on John Dryden.

Poems By John Dryden

Miscellaneous

A Song From The Italian (No Comments »)
Absalom And Achitophel (No Comments »)
Alexander’s Feast; Or, The Power Of Music (No Comments »)
An Ode, On The Death Of Mr. Henry Purcell (No Comments »)
Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor! (No Comments »)
Happy The Man (No Comments »)
Heroic Stanzas (No Comments »)
Hidden Flame (No Comments »)
Mac Flecknoe (No Comments »)
Ode (No Comments »)
Religio Laici (No Comments »)
Song (Sylvia The Fair, In The Bloom Of Fifteen) (No Comments »)
Song For Saint Cecilia’s Day, 1687 (No Comments »)
Song From Amphitryon (No Comments »)
Song From An Evening’s Love (No Comments »)
Song From Marriage-A-La-Mode (No Comments »)
Song To A Fair Young Lady Going Out Of Town In The Spring (No Comments »)
The Medal (No Comments »)
To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve On His Commedy Call’d The Double Dealer (No Comments »)
To The Memory Of Mr Oldham (No Comments »)
To The Pious Memory Of The Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew (No Comments »)
Troilus And Cressida (No Comments »)

Examen Poeticum

Veni, Creator Spiritus (No Comments »)

King Arthur; or, The British Worthy

Your Hay It Is Mow’d, And Your Corn Is Reap’d (No Comments »)

Marriage à-la-Mode

Why Should A Foolish Marriage Vow (No Comments »)