The life of John Dryden and his works

1. John Dryden
( 9 AUGUST 1631- 12 MAY 1700 )

2.  John Dryden was a
English:
Poet
Literary critic
Translator
Playwright
Poet Laureate

3. Early life and Education
 Born in Northamptonshire, England, on August 9, 1631.
 In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School where his
headmaster was Dr. Richard Busby.
 In 1650 Dryden went up to Trinity College, Cambridge.
 He obtained his BA in 1654.
 He received a classical education at Westminster School
and Trinity College, Cambridge.

4. As a poet:
 After John Donne and John Milton, John Dryden
was the greatest English poet of the seventeenth
century.
 He published his first important poem, Heroic
Stanzas (1659), a eulogy on Cromwell's death .
 In 1660 Dryden celebrated the Restoration of the
monarchy and the return of Charles II with Astraea
Redux.

5. Annus Mirabilis
 It is a poem published in 1667.
 It commemorated 1665–1666, the
"year of miracles" of London.
 Despite the poem's name, the year
had been one of great tragedy,
including the Great Fire of London.

6.  Johnson writes that Dryden uses the term "year of
miracles" for this period of time to suggest that events
could have been worse.
 It established him as the preeminent poet of his
generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts
of Poet Laureate (1668).

7. Absalom and Achitophel ( 1681)
 It is his most famous poetic
political satire.
 The poem is an allegory that
uses the story of the rebellion
of Absalom against King
David as the basis for discussion
of the background to
the Monmouth
Rebellion (1685).

8. The Medal (1682)
 Early in 1682 Dryden published another attack on
Shaftesbury and his followers, The Medall.
 The controlling fiction of the poem is the two sides of the
medal, one with a portrait of Shaftesbury, the other with a
portrait of the City of London.

9. (1682)Mac Flecknoe
 It is a verse mock-heroic satire.
 It is a direct attack on Thomas Shadwell, another
prominent poet of the time.
 Dryden denies Shadwell the lineage he has claimed, to
be a new Son of Ben (Jonson) because of his dedication to
a comedy of humors

10.  Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by his catholic
brother, James II.
 Within less than a year, Dryden and his two sons were
converted to Catholicism.
 As a result, He was dismissed by William III and Mary II in
1688 after he refused to swear an oath of allegiance, remaining
loyal to James II.
 Then, Thomas Shadwell succeeded him as Poet Laureate.

11. The Hind and the Panther(1687)
 It's a Poem in Three Parts.
 Its Dryden's longest poem.
 In this poem Dryden celebrated his conversion
to Roman Catholicism.

12. His Famous Odes
A Song for St. Cecilia's
Day (1687)
Alexander's Feast, or
the Power of
Music (1697)

13. Heroic Couplet
 Dryden was the dominant literary figure and influence of his age.
 He established the heroic couplet as a standard form of English
poetry.
 Dryden's heroic couplet became the dominant poetic form of the
18th century.
 Alexander Pope was heavily influenced by Dryden and often
borrowed from him

14. As a playwright:
 After William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson,
he was the greatest playwright.
 His first play, The Wild Gallant, appeared in
1663 and was not successful.

15.  After Shakespeare, He wrote:
 The greatest heroic play of the century, The Conquest of
Granada (1670, 1671),
 The greatest tragicomedy, Marriage A-la-Mode (1671).
 The greatest tragedy of the Restoration, All for Love (1677)
 He adapted a number of Shakespeare's plays including The
Tempest and All for Love (1677), a retelling of Antony and
Cleopatra.

16. As a translator:
 Most of the work of his last years was in translation.
 Dryden translated works by Horace,
 Juvenal, Ovid, Lucretius, and Theocritus
 His translation of the Aeneid remains the best ever
produced in English

17. Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700)
 It is a collection of translations of classical and medieval
poetry.
 It is a series of episodes from Homer, Ovid, and Boccaccio,
as well as modernized adaptations from Geoffrey
Chaucer interspersed with Dryden's own poems
 it was his last and one of his greatest works. Dryden died two
months later.

18. John Dryden died in London on May
12, 1700, and was buried in
Westminster Abbey next to Chaucer.

19. Sources
www.Wikipedia.com
www.poetryfoundation.org
Norton Anthology of English Literature