Hello.

Welcome to the lecture on John Dryden.

John Dryden was the most important writer of the Restoration period.

He was born in 1631, and he died at the beginning of the 18th century,

in the year 1700.

Dryden was a writer who did not leave any genre untouched -- he wrote poetry, drama, prose,

criticism, everything. And he was also the first neoclassical critic of this time.

Before that, there was Ben Jonson who was also a neoclassical critic. Neoclassicism supports classical

values, but this supports native English values, even though they are not very classical.

So classicism plus Englishness makes neoclassicism. Dryden was the first comparative critic, and the

first historical critic.

Also he was born in Northamptonshire, and he studied at Cambridge.

He was a major aristocrat of the time. Dryden's writing began with poetry. The first major book that he

wrote was Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell, published the year after

Cromwell died. Cromwell died in 1658, and Dryden's Heroic Stanzas came in 1659. Immediately after
that,

when the restoration happened, Cromwell's enemies, the monarchists, came to power.

Charles II came to power. Dryden changed -- the man who supported Cromwell now supported the
monarchy!

Dryden wrote Astrea Redux in 1660, praising the Restoration. Astrea Redux is a Latin

title meaning Justice Restored.

Sometime after this, in 1666, the people believed that the world is going to end, because

666 is the number of the devil. But nothing much happened. Just the Great Fire of London happened,

13000 buildings burnt, a lot of people died... Dryden calls it "the wonderful year" and he wrote
Annus Mirabilis, meaning wonderful year, published in the year 1667. Incidently in the

very same year, 1667, Paradise Lost was published. In the very same year, Dryden wrote

Of Dramatic Poesy, a very important critical book. The next year 1668, Dryden became the

Poet Laureate, the first official Poet Laureate. He also became the Historiographer Royal.

About this time, Dryden had already started writing drama. In 1663 came his first play

The Wild Gallant. The first major play that he wrote was The Indian Emperor, followed by Tyrannic
Love,

The Conquest of Granada, Aurangzebe, etc. These plays were all called Heroic Plays.

They employed very bombastic, rhetorical language, luxurious stage settings, characters caught between
love and duty --

love for the woman, duty for the nation. People ridiculed Dryden's heroic plays. There was an
anonymous play

that was enacted and circulated, called The Rehearsal, making fun of Dryden, supposedly written by

the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers. Dryden stopped writing Heroic plays, and wrote a blank
verse tragedy

called All for Love or The World Well Lost -- year is 1678.

At this time, the Exclusion Crisis was raging. Who should be the successor of Charles II

is not clear. The Whigs are saying Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of Charles, should be the
successor.

The Tories are saying, only royal blood, the brother James should be the successor.

Dryden was a Tory. At this time, supporting the brother of Charles, i.e., James, Dryden wrote Absalom
and Achitophel,

a political allegory based on a New Testament story.

It is a satire

telling the story of the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion against Charles, with the help of the Earl of
Shaftesbury.
The Biblical parallel is: Absalom is revolting against King David with the help of Achitophel. It was a
devastating satire,

published in 1681. At this time,

the Whigs led by Earl of Shaftesbury tabled the Exclusion Bill.

Charles, the King, did not want the Exclusion Bill to be passed. So he arrested Shaftesbury. But

Shaftesbury was an influential man and he was quickly released from prison.

When Shaftesbury was released from prison, his followers wore a medal in honor of Shaftesbury.

Dryden made fun of this medal that the Whigs were wearing and wrote the satire The Medal, published
in 1682.

Shadwell replied with the Medal of John Bays.

Bays means Poet Laureate. John Bays is John Dryden, Poet Laureate who was also the character in The
Rehearsal.

Thomas Shadwell made fun of Dryden, and Dryden replied with the mock epic MacFlecknoe.
MacFlecknoe

is a mock epic modelled on Boileau's Le Lutrin, Tassoni's Secchia Repita or The Rape of the Bucket,

and it inspired

later, Alexander Pope's Dunciad. This happened in 1682. In the same year,

Dryden wrote Religio Laici, supporting Anglicanism.

His religion was Anglicanism. In 1682,

he supported Anglicanism in Religio Laici. In 1685,

James II came to power.

He supported Catholicism immediately.

Dryden, in 1686, converted to Catholicism.

And in 1687, he wrote The Hind and the Panther, supporting Catholicism. The same man had

supported Anglicanism earlier. In 1687 came his support of Catholicism. In 1688,

James is ousted from power

with the Glorious Revolution. Dryden is stuck with his Catholicism. And the new kings, the new
monarchs,

William of Orange and Mary, are Protestants. Poor Dryden lost all his offices. His archenemy

Shadwell was made Poet Laureate.

Dryden spent the rest of his life up to 1700, writing some translations which became

the book Fables Ancient and Modern.

Published in 1700, which has the illustrious preface called Preface to the Fables, a very major

political work by Dryden. Before that, I've already mentioned that Dryden had written another critical
work,

Of Dramatic Poesy.

So, that is about the greatest writer of the Restoration.

But all is not over. Dryden also wrote operas. Based on Paradise Lost he wrote

The State of Innocence.

He also wrote King Arthur, or The British Worthy, an opera. And also wrote Troilus and Cressida,

another opera. And he died in 1700. That's all about Dryden,

the greatest writer of the Restoration. The next lecture will be on the other writers of the Restoration.

Until then goodbye.