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John Dryden analysis

The reign of Augustus Caesar is regarded as the of Latin or roman literature.the age of Dryden and Alexander Pope is called Augustan age in literature i.e;the last quarter of the 17th century and the first half of the .The English literary men of the period hated both restoration profligacy and puritanism.Their primary aim hence was to teach and therefore their style was didactic.Their fav. form of writing = .They tried to reform by ridiculing the foolishness and wickedness.their attitude was rationalistic and utilitarian.their works are examples of perfect craftsmanship.But their were works are very artificial and less spontaneous.they spring not from heart but from head.in short they are known for correctness, elegance and finish. (9 August 1631 – 1 May 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."[1] He was made Poet Laureate in 1668.

Dryden forms the link between Restoration and Augustan literature; although he wrote ribald comedies in the Restoration vein, his verse were highly admired by the generation of poets who followed him, and his writings on literature were very much in a neoclassical spirit. In verse, the tight was common, and in prose and satire were the predominant forms. Any facile definition of this period would be misleading, however; as important as it was, the neoclassicist impulse was only one strain in the literature of the first half of the eighteenth century. But its representatives were the defining voices in literary circles, and as a result it is often some aspect of 'neoclassicism' which is used to describe the era.

The of these writers often sought its justification in classical precedents. In the same vein, many of the important genres of this period were adaptations of classical forms: mock epic, , and imitation. What Dryden achieved in his was not the emotional excitement we find in the Romantic poets of the early nineteenth century, nor the intellectual complexities of the . His subject-matter was often factual, and he aimed at expressing his thoughts in the most precise and concentrated way possible. Although he uses formal poetic structures such as heroic stanzas and heroic couplets, he tried to achieve the rhythms of speech. However, he knew that different subjects need different kinds of verse, and in his preface to Religio Laici he wrote: ―...the expressions of a poem designed purely for instruction ought to be plain and natural, yet majestic...The florid, elevated and figurative way is for the passions; for (these) are begotten in the soul by showing the objects out of their true proportion....A man is to be cheated into passion, but to be reasoned into truth.‖

As with his poetry, most of Dryden's prose is occasional. The exception is his Essay of Dramatick Poesy, a dialogue platonic in its framework and general conduct. Otherwise it is made up of dedications and prefaces, the former sometimes becoming critical essays, as the latter always are. The dedications we tend to regard as fulsome; they are addressed for the more part to noble patrons, even to royalty, and may seem to us ludicrously, or shamefully, laudatory: but then the dedication was a genre of its own, with its laws and traditions. Dryden was the dominant literary figure and influence of his age. He established the heroic couplet as a standard form of by writing successful satires, religious pieces, fables, , compliments, prologues, and plays with it; he also introduced the and triplet into the form. In his poems, , and criticism, he established a appropriate to the heroic couplet—Auden referred to him as "the master of the middle style"[13]—that was a model for his contemporaries and for much of the 18th century. The considerable loss felt by the English literary community at his death was evident from the elegies that it inspired.[14] Dryden's heroic couplet became the dominant poetic form of the 18th century. The most influential poet of the 18th century, Alexander Pope,[citation needed] was heavily influenced by Dryden, and often borrowed from him; other writers were equally influenced by Dryden and Pope.

In the history of the period dating from 1660 to 1700 is called the Age of Dryden. Also called the Restoration Period, this was an era of change in political and social as well as in literary fields. In politics the period saw the reign of three rulers, two dynasties and a revolution. The social life of this period was influenced much by the French manners. The life of the people of England was greatly affected by the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666. The city ravaged by the violent outbreak was later devastated by fire. The entire city was re-built. There was also a change in literary tastes during this time owing to the French influence. Literature appealed more to the head than to the heart and reason and good sense replaced emotion and imagination.

The poetry of John Dryden possesses a grandeur, force, and fullness of tone that were eagerly received by readers still having something in common with the Elizabethans. At the same time, however, his poetry set the tone of the new age in achieving a new clarity and in establishing a self-limiting, somewhat impersonal canon of moderation and good taste. His polished heroic couplet (a unit of two rhyming lines of , generally end- stopped), which he inherited from less accomplished predecessors and then developed, became the dominant form in the composition of longer poems. Primarily focusing on drama, the poetry of plays, Dryden ultimately wants to make a case for the achievements of the British in that respect. In somewhat "Platonic" method, he creates a dialogue between poet/critics of the day who have different viewpoints about the strengths and weaknesses of, and influences on, British poesy. The benefit of this is to mount an argument which takes a variety of positions into consideration. Rather than attempting to create a new set of "rules" for drama, comedy, or verse, he chooses instead to review the existing, generally accepted conventions and decide in what respects they are being followed, or whether they should be followed by English writers. Further, through the use of the four-way dialogue, he is able to provide some insight on the prevailing notions of the day. It may be worth noting that the "characters" in this dialogue are associated for the purpose of argument with specific points of view: Crites praises the Greeks and Romans suggesting that they cannot be surpassed; Eugenius recognizes their worth but suggests that they