"To the Memory of Mr. Oldham" is a 1684 poem by the English satirist John Dryden, elegizing the fellow poet John Oldham, who died in 1683. Dryden and Oldham were socially acquainted, making the poem both a tribute to Dryden's departed friend and a defense of Oldham's own poetic accomplishments. The poem dwells on both what makes a good poet and what makes a good life, exploring the role of mortality in both realms. Though Oldham was younger than Dryden, he died at only 30, prompting Dryden to interrogate the impact of a short life on a poetic career.
Written in Dryden's typical heroic couplets, the elegy also mimics Oldham's own work, partaking in a satirical tradition of imitation in which Oldham was himself active. Dryden, noting his friend's affinity for narrative flair over neat rhyme and meter, accordingly subverts his own iambic pentameter meter and AABB rhyme scheme. Furthermore, Dryden makes repeated allusions to Roman literature and culture, itself a source of inspiration for Oldham. Today Dryden's work remains widely read, while Oldham's is less popular. As a result, Oldham himself is perhaps most famous for being the subject of this poem.
