Restorition Period of

John Dryden

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Biography of John Dryden:
Dryden was born in 1631 in Northamptonshire at Westminster
School , and higher education is from Trinity College Cambridge .Later
he settled permanently in London in 1657 ,soon after setting in London
he started writing poetry .His main form of meter which he used for
poem is Heroic stanzas (each line contains 8 syllables ,tetra-iambic
meter ,each stanza contains 4 lines and rhyme scheme is a,b,a,b)
Initially his poems not get recognition .The first poem of which he
wrote was an elegy called The Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver
written in 1659.Another poem which gather popularity titled Astraea
Redux ,which means Happy restoration written in praise of King Charles
who was restorated to the thrown .It is because (of the restoration of
Charles ),that this era is known as restoration period .
Dryden also started working as a stage actor in 1663 .Stage acting
was only profitable field for literary writers, and Dryden continued this
work for 15 years . Dryden’s greatest achievement was acquiring the
title of poet Laureate by the government of England in 1670 In 1681,
Dryden started publishing books and satires (satires are essays which
criticize a certain aspects of life) .In this satires Dryden criticized the
church of England .He also wrote some satirical poems about Christian
theology (religion)
Dryden produced five plays which were the translation of Juneval ,
Persius and Vergil. These were published in 1699.
Dryden’s Poetry :
As a poet Dryden ripened very slowly his first poem was an elegy
.On the death of Lord Hastings which also use heroic stanzas . He wrote
his poem at the early age of 18 unfortunately it is incredibly bad. The
later poem which he has produced up to the age 27 contained very few
lines of wit and imagery but majority of them are crude during this
period he was greatly influenced by Cowley whom he referred to as The
darling Of my Youth as a result all the characteristics abnormalities
found in metaphysical poems are collected in his early work. In Dryden
poems Annus Mirabilis published in 1667
Dryden again tries to use metaphysical conceits. Trying to aquate to
very different events .The war of Holand and second is the fire of
London. Dryden true exhibition of power however, lies in the last twenty
years of his life .Political satires such as Absalom and Achitophel
written in the excitement. Following the alleged “Popish plot”, the
medal which he wrote as a personal attack against a formal friend.
“Thomas Shedwell are great examples of satirical poems, The Religious
Laici and The Hindi And The Panther , are not religious in the strict
sense. They are written only to present the opposite view to puritanism.
His mental flexibility which he expressed through poems gave him a
remarkable power, as a persuader.