John Dryden, (1631-1700),
English poet, literary critic, dramatist and leader in Restoration comedy
wrote the comedic play Marriage
A-la-Mode (1672), and the tragedy All
for Love (1678) (www.online-literature.com).
You should be familiar with “Absalom and Achitophel:
A Poem," “Mac Flecknoe," and All
for Love. You should know the hallmarks of Restoration
Comedy and how Dryden's works fit within them. You should also know
that Dryden imitated a number of Shakespeare's works (e.g. Anthony
& Cleopatra, the Tempest,
Troilus
& Cressida); however, Dryden’s plays adhere more strictly
to the classical unities
than the Bard's. “Following Aristotle's dictum to keep scenes of
strong passion—such as swordfights and lovemaking—offstage,
Dryden's blank verse may appear too garrulous and too grandiloquent.”
(www.offoffonline.com )
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- Portents and prodigies
have grown so frequent,
That they have lost their name. Our fruitful Nile
Flowed ere the wonted season, with a torrent
So unexpected, and so wondrous fierce,
That the wild deluge overtook the haste
Even of the hinds that watched it: Men and beasts
Were borne above the tops of trees, that grew
On the utmost margin of the water-mark.
Then, with so swift an ebb the flood drove backward,
It slipt from underneath the scaly herd:
Here monstrous phocae panted on the shore;
Forsaken dolphins there with their broad tails,
Lay lashing the departing waves: hard by them,
Sea horses floundering in the slimy mud,
Tossed up their heads, and dashed the ooze about them.(Opening Scene.
All for Love. The speaker is SERAPION, the Priest of Isis at
Temple of Isis)
Compare the above
passage to the Opening of Shakespeare’s
Anthony
and Cleopatra:
SCENE I. Alexandria.
A room in CLEOPATRA's palace.
PHILO: Nay, but this dotage of our general's
O'erflows the measure: those his goodly eyes,
That o'er the files and musters of the war
Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn,
The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gipsy's lust.
- Well then; the
promis'd hour is come at last;
The present age of wit obscures the past:
Strong were our sires; and as they fought they writ,
Conqu'ring with force of arms, and dint of wit;
Theirs was the giant race, before the Flood;
And thus, when Charles return'd, our empire stood.
Like Janus he the stubborn soil manur'd,
With rules of husbandry the rankness cur'd:
Tam'd us to manners, when the stage was rude;
And boisterous English wit, with art endu'd.
Our age was cultivated thus at length;
But what we gained in skill we lost in strength.
Our builders were, with want of genius, curst;
The second temple was not like the first:
Till you, the best Vitruvius,
come at length;
Our beauties equal; but excel our strength.
Firm Doric pillars found your solid base:
The fair Corinthian crowns the higher space;
Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.
....
The satire, wit, and strength of manly Wycherly.
All this in blooming youth you have achiev'd;
Nor are your foil'd contemporaries griev'd;
So much the sweetness of your manners move,
We cannot envy you because we love. ("To my Dear Friend Mr. Congreve
on his Comedy Call'd the Double Dealer," Dryden)
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