Dryden, John

(1631-1700)

   Born in Northamptonshire, where his father was a justice of the peace, he was educated at Westminster School and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1654. After Cambridge he worked as a hack-writer for Herringman, a London bookseller. He married Lady Elizabeth Howard in 1663 and they had four children. He was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1662. He excelled at drama, criticism, satire and lyric. He translated, among others, Virgil, Plutrach, and Chaucer. His change of religion is reflected in his two poems, "Religio Laici," 1682 (in favor of Anglicanism) and "The Hind and the Panther," 1687 (in favor of Catholicism). He was buried by the side of Chaucer and Cowley in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Some of his publications: Heroic Stanzas, 1659 (on the death of Oliver Cromwell). Astraea Redux, 1660 (on the Restoration). Annus Mirabilis, 1667. All for Love, 1678. Absalom and Achitophel, 1681 and 1682. Fables Ancient and Modern, 1700. Some of his other poems: "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day," "An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell," "Hidden Flame," "Lines on Milton."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Dryden, Poems and Prose. Douglas Grant, ed. Penguin Books, 1955, repr. 1985. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. ChadwyckHealey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. Oxford University Press, 1972. The Oxford Antholog y of English Poetry, Vol. I: Spenser to Crabbe. John Wain, ed. Oxford University Press, 1990. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Poems of John Dryden, Vol. 2, 1682-1685. Paul Hammond, ed. Longman, 1995. The Poetical Works of Dryden. George R. Noyes, ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950. The Works of John Dryden (www.luminarium.org/eightlit/dryden/drydenbib.htm). The Works of John Dryden. NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company, 1999. Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).