{\b John Dryden}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 19 August 1631

{\b Date of Death}.: 1 May 1700

{\b Works}.

English text, dramatist, literary critic, translator, poet laureate and royal 
historiographer. Dryden's immense stature upon the literary horizon of his 
time was so great that his age has often been called 'The Age of Dryden'. His 
first major works were works of poetry: the Heroique Stanza's (1658) written 
on the death of Cromwell and the celebrations of King James II's restoration; 
the Astraea Redux (1660) and the To His Sacred Majesty (1661). These were 
followed, in 1667, by the thrice celebratory work Annus Mirabilis (1667), 
written upon the occasion of two English victories over the Dutch fleet and 
the extinguishing of the Great Fire of London. Other works from Dryden's 
earlier period were mainly for the theatre. These include heroic works such as 
The Indian Queen (1664), The Indian Emporer (1665) and The Conquest of Granada 
(1669); comic works: The Wild Gallant (1663), The Rival Ladies (1664) and An 
Evening's Love (1668); and tragi-comic works. These latter include Secret Love 
(1667), Marriage a la Mode (1672) and The Assignation (1672). Dryden also 
adapted works by Shakespeare - The Tempest (1667) and Troilus and Cressida 
(1679) - and Milton (Paradise Lost) and wrote a number of critical texts, 
including Of Dramatick Poesie (1668), A Defence of an Essay (1668) and Of 
Heroic Plays (1672).

{\b Featured Works}.

'To the Memory of Mr Oldham', 'Song for Saint Cecilia's Day', 'Alexander's 
Feast; Or, the Power of Music', 'Song', 'Song from "Marriage-a-la-Mode"', 
'Song from "An Evening's Love"', 'Ode', 'Prologue to 'Amboyna, or, The Cruelties 
of the Dutch to the English Merchants'', 'Confessio Fidei', 'On Jacob Tonson, his 
Publisher', 'London After the Great Fire, 1666', 'The Crown Prince of Dullness', 
'Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor', 'Vox Populi'.

{\b General Comment}.

Dryden was educated first at Westminster School and then at Trinity College, 
Cambridge. His first poetic works were written upon occasions of national 
importance. In 1663 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard and some years later, in 
1668, was made poet laureate and royal historiographer, posts that he held 
until 1688.

During this period Dryden wrote a number of critical essays - including A 
Defence of an Essay (1668), the Preface to  An Evening's Love (1671), Of 
Heroick Plays (1672) and the Preface to Troilus and Cressida (1679) - and 
three plays in which are marked the effects, upon Dryden, of the 
constitutional crisis of the 1670's: The Duke of Guise (1679), Mr Limberham 
(1679) and The Spanish Fryar (1681).

In the early 1680's Dryden became a Catholic and then wrote the religious work 
The Hind and the Panther (1687). In 1688 he lost both of his royal offices and 
returned to writing both for the theatre and critical pieces. The notable 
plays from this late period are Don Sebastion (1689), Amphitryon (1690) and 
Cleomenes (1692). The criticism includes the Preface to the Sylvae (1685) and 
A Discourse Concerning the Original  and Progress of Satire (1693).

Dryden also worked, during this period on a large number of translations of, 
among others, Theocritus, Horace, Homer, Lucretius, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Ovid 
and Persius. In 1700 Dryden was buried in Westminster Abbey.