The Poetry of John Dryden Essay Questions

Explain the political events behind Absalom and Achitophel and The Medal.

These two poems collectively chronicle the events of what is known as the "Exclusion Crisis." Lasting from 1679 until 1681, the conflict involved an attempt, led by Protestant politicians, to alter the royal line of succession by preventing the Catholic James II from succeeding his father Charles II. This attempt was led by the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Shaftesbury, whom Dryden represents allegorically through the figures of Absalom and Achitophel—meanwhile, in the same work, the biblical King David stands in for King Charles II. Subsequently, Shaftesbury was tried for treason but acquitted. His allies celebrated this victory, creating a medal that featured Shaftesbury's portrait. Dryden satirized this particular episode in The Medall.

Several of Dryden's poems focus on music. How does he evoke music on the page?

One prominent theme of Dryden's work is the importance and power of art. While he often discusses poetry, drama, and other literary art forms, music is also a favorite topic in works such as "Alexander's Feast, or, the Power of Music" and "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day." Limited to using words in order to conjure music, Dryden often uses personification. Thus the sounds of the violin are described in "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" as "jealous pangs." Repetition and onomatopoeia are another strategy for evoking music: in "A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" Dryden describes "The double double double beat/Of the thundering drum." Similarly, Dryden also uses assonance and alliteration to recreate musical sounds. Alliterative "R" sounds, for instance, mimic the roaring of music in the line "And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder," from "Alexander's Feast."

Which two poems most clearly reflect Dryden's own shift from Protestantism to Catholicism?

Dryden began his career as a dedicated Anglican during a period of strong anti-Catholic sentiment in England, but converted to Catholicism in 1685, following the deathbed conversion of King Charles II and the succession of the Catholic King James II. This change in allegiances—whether sincere or, as some have claimed, driven by political convenience—is neatly reflected by the poems Religio Laici or a Layman's Faith and The Hind and the Panther. The first of these, written in 1682, is a declaration of Christian faith and belief in biblical truth—a Protestantism-associated stance, since belief in the primacy of scripture above all else was associated with the Protestant faith. The Hind and the Panther, from 1687, is instead a vivid defense of Catholicism. This poem represents the Catholic faith as a pure, elegant deer, or hind, whereas Anglicanism is represented as a predatory panther. Through these symbols, Dryden suggests that Catholicism is a purer, superior tradition, free from the earthly temptations driving other sects.

Discuss Dryden's innovative use of the heroic couplet.

Dryden is, perhaps, known above all else for his skill in using the heroic couplet—a stanza comprising two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter. In particular, he is noted for his ability to inject novelty into the couplet form through devices such as enjambment and caesura, varying rhythm even without deviating from the established meter. These innovations paved the way for subsequent users of the heroic couplet, most notably the great eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope. Dryden uses this form in works including the Astrea Redux and Absalom and Achitophel, as well as in his translations of Virgil. However, not all of Dryden's work uses this form. His dramas at times make use of blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter—which creates more naturalistic-sounding dialogue. Meanwhile, he uses quatrains in "Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell," though this poem is notably more stilted than his later writing in couplets. Broadly speaking, the symmetry and evenness of the heroic couplet form create a sense of stability and order—values Dryden often praised in his writing.

Analyze Dryden's use of irony in one poem.

Irony is core to the satire Mac Flecknoe, which veils its sharp critique of the poet Thomas Shadwell with sarcastic praise and ironic understatement. Rather than directly attack Shadwell as an inferior poet, Dryden praises him as an heir to a long artistic legacy, comparing him to a monarch. However, Dryden chooses an unpopular ancestor for Shadwell: the poet Richard Flecknoe, whom Dryden himself had previously ridiculed and critiqued. This praise of Shadwell as a monarch, undermined by the declaration that his kingdom is a realm of worthless nonsense, is an instance of both verbal and situational irony. Dryden's veneration is sarcastic and clearly insincere, an example of verbal irony. At the same time, Dryden subverts the expected respect and awe for monarchy, and this surprising turn is an example of situational irony.