John Dryden was a prominent English poet, playwright, and literary figure born in 1631, known for his significant influence during the Restoration period. He became England's first poet laureate in 1668 and is best remembered for works such as 'Absalom and Achitophel' and his translations of Virgil. Dryden's contributions to poetry and theatre greatly shaped English literature, and he died in 1700.

1. JOHN DRYDEN
 John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic,
translator, and playwriter.
 He was born on 19th August, 1631, in Aldwincle,
England.
 He was the eldest of the fourteen children in the family.

2.  He was appointed as the England’s first poet Laureate in 1668.
 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. Romanticist writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John".
 Dryden published his first important poem, Heroic stanzas (1659), shortly after the death of Oliver Cromwell. It
was an eulogy on Cromwell's death which is cautious and prudent in its emotional display.
 The period from 1660 to 1900 may be designated as the age of restoration or age of Dryden. The year 1660 was
significant in the history of English literature as also it was in the history of English politics. It was in this year
Charles II was brought back to the throne from which his father had been driven.
 The social life, the manners and the literary traditions all underwent the process of immense transformation and a
significant change was noticed from the Renaissance period.
 Along with Astraea Redux, Dryden welcomed the new regime with two more panegyrics: To His Sacred Majesty: A
Panegyric on his Coronation (1662) and To My Lord Chancellor (1662).
 These poems suggest that Dryden was looking to court a possible patron, but he was to instead make a living in
writing for publishers, not for the aristocracy, and thus ultimately for the reading public.
 On 1 December 1663 Dryden married the royalist sister of Sir Robert Howard—Lady Elizabeth. Dryden's works
occasionally contain outbursts against the married state but also celebrations of the same

3.  With the reopening of the theatres in 1660 after the Puritan
ban, Dryden began writing plays. 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. During the 1660s and 1670s, theatrical writing
was his main source of income.
 He led the way in Restoration comedy, his best-known work being Marriage à la
Mode (1673), as well as heroic tragedy and regular tragedy, in which his greatest
success was All for Love (1678).
 Dryden was never satisfied with his theatrical writings and frequently suggested
that his talents were wasted on unworthy audiences. He thus was making a bid for
poetic fame off-stage.
 His subject matter was often factual, and he aimed at expressing his thoughts in
the most precise and concentrated manner. Although he uses formal structures
such as heroic couplets, he tried to recreate the natural rhythm of speech, and he
knew that different subjects need different kinds of verse.

4.  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.
 His other great works were Absalom and Achitophel (1681) and The
Medal (1682).
 In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining
work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by
subscription. The publication of the translation of Virgil was a national
event and brought Dryden the sum of £1,400.
 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. As a
translator, he made great literary works in the older languages available to readers
of English. Dryden translated works by Horace, Juvenal, Ovid, Lucretius,
and Theocritus, a task which he found far more satisfying than writing for the
stage.
 Dryden died on 12 May 1700

5.  Absalom and Achitophel is a celebrated satirical poem by John
Dryden, written in heroic couplets and first published in 1681. The poem
tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in
this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to
Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis (1679–
1681).
 Dryden's poem tells the story of the first foment by making Monmouth
into Absalom, the beloved boy, Charles into David and Shaftesbury into
Achitophel. It paints Buckingham, an old enemy of Dryden’s into Zimri,
the unfaithful servant. The poem places most of the blame for the
rebellion on Shaftesbury, and makes Charles a very reluctant and loving
man who has to be king before father. The poem also refers to some of
the Popish Plot furor.
 There are so many different ways to interpret the poem. Some take it
from ‘fathers plot’ and some through ‘mothers plot’. The poem shows
the connection between fatherhood and kingship as well as it blames
females for having the desire to create life which creates mess all around
and is the ultimate cause of everything.

6. “Great wits are to madness near
allied
And thin partitions do their bounds
divide.”
― John Dryden, Absalom and
Achitophel
“Must I at length the Sword of
Justice draw?
Oh curst Effects of necessary
Law!
How ill my Fear they by my
Mercy scan,
Beware the Fury of a Patient
Man.”
― John Dryden, Absalom
and Achitophel
Dryden believes that true genius is borderline insane. Any person of great
intelligence will also struggle with sanity by normal standards. Not only is a
genius perceived as abnormal, but they will also be received as almost crazy.
The difference between genius and madness is difficult to distinguish.
Achitophel fits this description perfectly: he is wise, accomplished, and
witty, but at the same time he is discontented with his position, preferring
danger and turmoil.
Dryden further expresses the emotions of David who wonders if he
will have to take up the sword, for the protection of necessary laws.
and also warns people to beware of the fury of a patient man. The
continues that he will not pay mercy to anyone if it comes on the
breaking of the law.

7. Some of Dryden’s famous quotes are;
“Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call
today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do
thy worst, for I have lived today.”
“All things are subject to decay and when
fate summons, monarchs must obey.”
“I am sore wounded but not slain
I will lay me down and bleed a while
And then rise up to fight again”
― John Dryden
“Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls, must dive
below.”
― John Dryden, All for Love