Background on John Dryden
John Dryden was a man of various trades and influenced the opinions of many during the Restoration. He was a poet, a playwright, a critic, and a translator of foreign works to English. Dryden was a prominent write from the time he was twenty-nine years old to the time of his death, at seventy-nine years (1660-1700). Many of his works were centered on politics Dryden wrote about a dozen poems in the first decade of his literary career.
He presented an argument, supporting evidence, and convinced the readers to agree with him by using analogies and metaphors. (Anderson 459) Dryden set standards in poetry and many, including Alexander Pope, modeled their poetry after his. After 1680, Dryden changed the face of British poetry; he popularized a new style called verse satires. To fill the financial gaps, Dryden turned to writing plays for local theaters, where they became quite popular. Dryden's poetry did not support his lifestyle and his household (a wife and three sons). He "perfect[ed] the technique of English poetry, regularize[d] meter, and [made] diction precise". Ultimately, he would be stripped of both titles in 1688, because he converted to Catholicism in 1685. asional", written for special events and occasions, including Astraea Redux, celebrating the restoration of King Charles II to the English throne in 1660, and Annus Mirabilis, in which he praised King Charles' actions during the war between England and Holland and the Great Fire of London. In the beginning he wrote heroic tragedies, but comedy and drama were also popular themes of his. Despite the popularity of his plays during the Restoration, few have been performed posthumously. (Anderson 458) Dryden used poetry to express his opinions on the government of England. These poems were so highly praised by the government that, in 1668, Dryden was named Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal in 1670. The Encyclopędia Britannica goes so far to say that he was the greatest English verse satirist to that point.
Common topics in this essay:
Historiographer Royal,
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John Dryden,
Alexander Pope,
Astraea Redux,
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Annus Mirabilis,
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Acceptance Essays
