Dryden, John

English poet and dramatist. He is noted for his satirical verse and for his use of the heroic couplet. His poetry includes the verse satire Absalom and Achitophel (1681), Annus Mirabilis (1667), and ‘A Song for St Cecilia's Day’ (1687). Plays include the heroic drama The Conquest of Granada (1672), the comedy Marriage à la Mode (1673), and All for Love (1678), a reworking of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.

Dryden was born in Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, and educated at Cambridge. In 1657 he moved to London, where he worked for the republican government of Oliver Cromwell. His stanzas commemorating the death of Cromwell appeared in 1659 and Astraea Redux, in honour of the Restoration, was published in 1660. He followed this with a panegyric (poem of praise) in honour of Charles II's coronation in 1661. Dryden's work reflects his changing political and religious allegiances, which were often influenced by popularity and acceptance. He was much involved in the intellectual spirit of the ‘new age’, being an early member of the Royal Society and committed to the society's ideal of making the language more clear and straightforward. He was one of the first to liken the reign of Charles II to that of the Roman emperor Augustus, from which the title of ‘Augustan’ has attached itself to the writings of Dryden's generation and that of their immediate successors. As a Roman Catholic convert under James II, lost the post of poet laureate (to which he had been appointed in 1668) after the Revolution of 1688.