Chapter Dryden to Dryden of D by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

beginning to be opened up in the demand for translations which had arisen. This gave Dryden a new opportunity, and he produced, in addition to translations from Juvenal and Perseus, his famous “Virgil” (1697). About the same time appeared The Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, and Alexander’s Feast, and in 1700, the year of his death, the Fables, largely adaptations from Chaucer and Boccaccio. In his own line, that of argument, satire, and declamation, Dryden is without a rival in our literature: he had little creative imagination and no pathos. His dramas, which in bulk are the greatest part of his work, add almost nothing to his fame; in them he was meeting a public demand, not following the native bent of his genius. In his satires, and in such poems as Alexander’s Feast, he rises to the highest point of his powers in a verse swift and heart-stirring. In prose his style is clear, strong, and nervous. He seems to have been almost insensible to the beauty of Nature.

Summary.—Born 1631, educated Westminster and Cambridge, became prolific playwright, published Annus Mirabilis c. 1666, Poet Laureate 1667, published Absalom and Achitophel (part 1) 1681, Medal 1682, MacFlecknoe 1682, Religio Laici 1683, joined Church of Rome 1686, published Hind and Panther 1687, deprived of offices and pensions at Revolution 1688, published translations including “Virgil” 1697, St. Cecilia’s Day and Alexander’s Feast c. 1697, and Fables 1700, when he died

Sir W. Scott’s edition with Life 1808, re-edited in 18 vols. by Professor Saintsbury (1883-93); Aldine edition (5 vols., 1892), Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, etc.