Give a brief Life-Sketch of JOHN DRYDEN.

Ans.

JOHN DRYDEN (1688-1744)

John Dryden was born on 9th of August, 1631 at a small village Aldwincle in Northamptonshire. His father Erasmus Dryden who was a justice of the Peace for Northamptonshire, was the third son of Sir Erasmus Baronet Dryden of Canons Ashby. His parents had a strong faith in Puritan tendencies. John Dryden was called Glorious Dryden in his early age. He was sent to the famous Westminster School for his primary education. At this school he wrote his first poem ‘An Elegy’ in the memory of his classmate. Lord Hastings. He also translated the third satire of Persius. In 1655 he joined Trinity College, Cambridge for his further education. At Cambridge also he wrote some poetry. Thereafter he went to London as secretary to Sir Gilbert Reckering and Chamberlain to Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector in 1657. During this period he wrote some verses on the death of Cromwell. He called these verses heroic stanzas. This composition made him popular in literary circles. He was considered a new poet of Puritanism. Further the Restoration made a great change in his poetic art. He wrote a poem Astra Redux to welcome Charles II, followed by the Panegyric to His Sacred Majesty. In 1664 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard. She was the daughter of the Earl of Birkshire. The marriage brought him a hundred pounds a year but it did not bring him happiness in domestic life.

From 1661 to 1681 he devoted his time to writing plays. He wrote about twenty plays. Though he was expert in writing plays but as it was profitable, he did this with a great enthusiasm. Thus most of his plays could not attain as much success as they deserved.

In 1665 Dryden went to London to live in his father-in-law’s house at Charlton with his wife as London was in the grip of plague. In Charlton, he wrote his first famous poem ‘Amus Mirabilis’. It was composed in quatrains or stanzas of four lines in alternative rhyme. In the poem he described the horrors of the Great Fire in London with some incidents of the war with Holland. This poem gave him a great popularity. After two years he produced his great prose work ‘Essay on Dramatic Poesy’. It was written in the form of dialogues. In 1670, he was asked to accept the posts of Poet Laureate and Historiographer. The jobs accompanied pensions of two hundred pounds a year. As he was already earning a lot from his literary career and his share in one of the theatres, this new offer enhanced his income.

With his reputation and popularity the number of Dryden’s opponents increased. Some of them collectively produced a rehearsal in which they made fun of Dryden. The Duke of Bukingham also was among the opponents. But Dryden took no notice of it. But when the Earl of Shaftesbury was maki efforts to secure the succession of the Duke of Monmouth, Dryden noticed that there was a conflict between the Earl of Shaftesbury and King Charles II, he took advantage and wrote his brilliant satire Absalom and Achitophel. In this long poem, he attacked Shaftesbury, Monmouth and Buckingham and thus he took his revenge. In 1682, Dryden produced another piece of satirical work ‘The Medal’.

Dryden’s health was now deteriorating rapidly. As a result he expired on 1st May, 1700. At that time he was completing his sixty ninth year. He was buried with a great pomp and with all honours of a public funeral in Westminster Abbey. He was buried in Poet’s corner beside the graves of Chaucer and Cowley.