JOHN DRYDEN as a critic

1. John Dryden
1631_1700
Prepared by Fatemeh Fatehizadeh

2. • Influential English poet, literary
critic,translator,playwright
• Father of English criticism
• First England poet laureate
• Age of Dryden

3. Dryden as a critic
• Justification of whatever works
• What may work in one time and place may not be so effective in
another

4. Dryden's criticism
Aristotle
• Respect for rules
French neoclassicism
• Prefer epic to tragedy
Longinus and Saint Evremond
• Respect for his own judgment

5. Essay of Dramatic
Poesy
Form of dialogue
Various critical points
Discussion between four people

6. Crites
• Uphold the ancient drama
• The unity of time
• The unity of action
• The unity of place
Eugenius
• Takes the side of the moderns
• Ancients VS. Modern

7. Lisideius
• French playwrights are better than
English
• Kept rules
• No absurd tragicomedy
• Rhyme not blank verse
Neander
• Comic relief
• English tragicomedy
• English variety VS. French unity

8. Admire Jonson but love Shakespeare
Shakespeare
• Didn’t need rules to learn
• Breaks many rules
• Greater wit
• Homer
Jonson
• Most learned and judicious
• His own strength and managed
it to advantage
• More correct poet
• Virgil

9. Conclusion
• He develops the study of
literature in and of itself, not
obsessing over its moral and
theological worth.
• Creates a natural and simple
prose style that guides and
effects modern criticism.
• Making use of a variety of critical
perspective from Greek to
French.
• Brings all of these critical
perspectives best insights into
the still infant discipline of
English literary criticism.
• Advocates for establishing of
objective principles of criticism
while simultaneously moving the
emphasis of criticism away from
the construction of a work into
its more modern emphasis on
how readers and critics
appreciate texts.

10. References
• The Norton anthology English literature ( volume 1)
• A Short History of Literary Criticism by Vernon Hall
• An introduction of Literary Criticism by Richard Dutton
• Literary Criticism by Charles E. Bressler
• The McGraw-Hill Guide to English Literature by Karen Lawrence,
Betsy Seifter and Lois Ratner