JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700)

SYNOPSISBORN

9 August 1631Northamptonshire, England

DIED1 May 1700 (aged 68)London, England

OCCUPATIONpoet, literary critic, playwright, librettist

ALMA MATERWestminster SchoolTrinity College, Cambridge

NOTABLE WORKSAbsalom and Achitophel, Mac Flecknoe

JOHN DRYDEN WAS BORN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, ENGLAND ON AUGUST 9, 1631.

JOHN DRYDEN DIED IN LONDON ON MAY 12, 1700, AND WAS BURIED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY NEXT CHAUCER.

FAMILYJOHN DRYDEN CAME FROM A

LANDOWNING FAMILY WITH CONNECTIONS TO PARLIAMENT AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

HIS IS MATERNAL GRANDFATHER WAS RECTOR OF ALL SAINTS.

SON OF ERASMUS DRYDEN AND MARY PICKERING.

HIS FAMILY WERE PARLIAMENTARY SUPPORTERS WITH PURITANS LEARNING.

HE WAS AN ENGLISH POET, DRAMATIST AND CIRITIC.

HE WAS ALSO A LEADING FIGURE OF THE RESTORATION AGE.

HE WAS SO DOMINATING PERSON THAT THE WHOLE AGE WAS KNOWN AS ‘AGE OF DRYDEN’.

WALTER SCOTT CALLED HİM AS ‘GLORIOUS JOHN’

HE LEFT BEHIND ALMOST 30 WORKS FOR STAGE AS WELL AS A MAJOR CRITICAL STUDY (AN ESSAY N DRAMATIC POESY) AND A NUMBER OF TRANSLATIONS INCLUDING THE WORKS OF VIRGIL.

• AFTER JOHN DONNE AND JOHN MILTON, JOHN DRYDEN WAS THE GREATEST ENGLISH POET OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

• AFTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND BEN JONSON, HE WAS THE GREATEST PLAYWRIGHT.

• HE HAS NO PEER AS A WRITER OF PROSE, ESPECIALLY LITERARY CRITICISM, AND AS A TRANSLATOR. OTHER FIGURES, SUCH AS GEORGE HERBERT OR ANDREW MARWELL OR WILLIAM WYCHERLEY OR WILLIAM CONGREVE, MAY FIGURE MORE PROMINENTLY IN ANTHOLOGIES AND LITERARY HHISTORIES, BUT DRYDEN‘S SUSTAINED OUTPUT IN BOTH POETRY AND DRAMA RANKS HIM HIGHER.

EDUCATION HE STUDIES AS A KING’S SCHOLAR AT

THE PRESTIGIOUS WESTMINSTER SCHOOL OF LONDON.

THERE, DRYDEN WAS TRAİNED IN THE ART OF RHETORICAL ARGUMENT, WHICH REMAINED A STRONG INFLUENCE ON THE POET’S WRITING AND CRITICAL THOUGHT THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE.

HE ENROLLED AT TRINITY COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE THE FOLLOWING YEAR, WHERE HE LIKELY STUDIED THE CLASSICS, RHETORIC, AND MATHEMATICS.

WORKSAFTER SHAKESPEARE, HE WROTE THE

GREATEST HEROIC PLAY OF THE CENTURY, THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA (1670)

THE GREATEST TRAGICOMEDY, MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE (1671)

HE GREATEST TRAGEDY OF THE RESTORATION, ALL FOR LOVE (1677)

THE GREATEST COMITRAGEDY, DON SEBASTIAN (1689)

ONE OF THE GREATEST COMEDIES, AMPHITRYON (1690)

DRYDEN THE POET IS BEST KNOWN TODAY AS A SATIRIST, ALTHOUGH HE WROTE ONLY TWO GREAT ORIGINAL SATIRES, MAC FLECKNOE (1682) AND THE MEDALL (1682).

HIS MOST FAMOUS POEM, (MASTERPIECE) ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL (1681)

DRYDEN'S OTHER GREAT POEMS— ANNUS MIRABILIS (1667), RELIGIO LAICI (1682), THE HIND AND THE PANTHER (1687), ANNE KILLIGREW (1686), ALEXANDER'S FEAST (1697), AND "TO MY HONOUR'D KINSMAN" (1700)

HIS FIRST PLAY, THE WILD GALLANT (1663),

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

MERVE KURT