John Dryden

DRYDEN, John. b. Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, 9 Aug 1631; d. London, 1 May 1700. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1654). He became a civil servant under Cromwell, whom he admired, although at the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 he wrote a poem entitled Astraea Redux (‘Justice led back again’). In the years that followed he acquired a distinguished name as a dramatist and poet, becoming Poet Laureate in 1667. He became active as a satirist, notably during the years of the ‘Popish plot’ (Absalom and Achitophel, 1681). His literary criticism is also significant. He was the most impressive poet of his generation: after his death he was buried at St...