John Dryden (1631-1700), the leading poet of the Restoration Era, was born in Aldwincle, a village near Oundle in Northampton County. His paternal grandfather named Sir Eramus Dryden was a baron and his mother was Lady Pickering, Sir Gilbert Pickering’s first cousin. He received his primary education at the village school in neighboring Tichmarsh. From Tichmarsh, he went on to Westminster School about the year 1642. From Westminster, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1650. He was close to Sir Robert Howard, this friendship leading to his marriage to Lady Elizabeth in 1663, the daughter of his but the marriage was unhappy friend.

Without a doubt, he was an original and demanding critic. Dr. Johnson called him “the father of English criticism.” Furthermore, he was the founder of the modern prose style. He was a noted poet and playwright. In his time, there were many minor literary critics with erratic work by him, but the leading contemporaries with significant work were Thomas Rhymer, John Dennis, and Jeremy Collier. It would be better to discuss the social and literary background of his time (1660-1700).

A. Social background:

The Dryden Age begins with the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 until the poet’s death in 1700. It will not be an exaggeration to say that he was the dominant literary figure who represented the period very well. His time was profoundly influenced by three historical events: the Restoration of Carlos II in 1660, the religious and political controversies and the papist plot, and the Golden Revolution of the year 1688. As for the Restoration of Carlos II, it is about increasing of corruption etc. A backlash against Puritan restraints was necessary. All the values ​​of society, which had prevailed the Puritan, were violated. The king was very rare he had a series of mistresses and illegitimate children. He was irresponsible and unpatriotic who always went against his promises, broke his treaty with the Dutch and his own ministers and betrayed his country. His court was dishonorable, and Parliament passed bills against church and state with a thirst for vengeance on those connected with Cromwell’s Puritan government. The House of Lords was augmented by the creation of hereditary titles, desecrated men, and brazen women. Even the judiciary wasn’t sure.

In this era, the unrest in the field of religious and political parties was very vivid. There were the two central political parties, the Whigs and the Tories. They split the atmosphere of the country with their touch. The Whigs were in favor of limiting royal power in the interest of the nation and Parliament, while the Tories were different and supported the theory of the “divine right” of kings. Both parts proved fruitful for men of literary abilities. They chased support and bribed them with jobs and pensions. The writers of the time were not free from political bias and competition.

Religious conflict or prejudice was more bitter. The nation was predominantly Protestant with Catholics working under a number of disabilities. They had to pay higher taxes and were not allowed to hold any office under the Crown. Such hatred for Catholics was a great theme of the writing of that time.

Apart from that, at this time the papist plot comes because the king was very weak in the field of religion but his brother was a roman catholic. Carlos II had no legitimate son or heir to the throne. After him, his brother James would sit on the throne. The plot was made to remove him from the throne and create the atmosphere to seat the Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II. This controversy was called the Popish Plot by Titus Oates. Shaftsbury made several attempts to exclude James, but the king supported his brother and the way was cleared for James’s ascension. The famous poem of Dryden, Absalam and Achitophel reflects or interprets these religious or political controversies or prejudices of the time.

Jaime II ascended to the throne in 1685. He had several plots and under them tried to establish Catholicism in the country. Such misrule made him quite unpopular in his country in a short time. In reaction, the nation opposed him, and the Bloodless Revolution of 1688 returned the country to a pleasant and healthy environment after the suffering of immorality and corruption that had been present since the Restoration. James was exiled and the Protestants William and Mary sat on the throne.

B. Literary background:

In literature, this school of criticism is called neoclassical, pseudoclassical, or the Augustan era. At this time, the literati began to imitate the French writers. It was a blind imitation that led them to copy the worst works instead of using their wits. So it was just a copy. They call it the Augustan Age because the writers of the time considered their time to be as glorious as the time of King Augustus Caesar of Rome. That era produced brilliant literary figures such as Horace, Virgil, Longinus, and Quintilian. Whereas, in this pseudo-classical era, John Dryden was a dominant figure, which is why it is called the Dryden Age.

The rise of neoclassicism broke the chains of Puritanism. Post-Restoration literature was from the Elizabethan era, while neoclassical literature was opposed to Elizabethan romanticism. Before Dryden, Sir Philip Sidney and Ben Jonson were two great poets of the Elizabethan age. After Ben Jonson, literary activity in England suffered greatly. Between Ben Jonson and John Dryden there is hardly any major criticism due to religious and social controversies. The Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 penetrated a favorable French-influenced environment that supplanted the sensual and romantic Italian influence. Charles II and the other men of letters were under this influence because they had spent most of their time in France. On their return to England, they brought a new storm of French literature, which renounced old ideals and norms. They demanded English poetry in the new style. The Italian influence was lost and the literati began to blindly imitate the French writers. So they copied the worst work instead of using their wits. The influence of French comedy is seen in the awkwardness and indecency of The Restoration Comedy of Manners of Dryden, Wycherley and Congreve. The mutual influence of the French and classical tragic models is manifested in a new genre, heroic tragedy. It is well represented by Dryden’s ‘Tyrannic Love’. This influence is also responsible for the growth of opera in Restoration England.

This reaction ran counter to romantic leanings and largely favored realism. In the case of realism, his conception was very bad. Early Restoration writers painted realistic pictures of a corrupt court and society. His emphasis was on the vices rather than the virtues, and he produced crude, base works without interest or moral significance. Later, the interest of writers in the study of the practical motives that governed human actions changed and increased. It cannot be contradicted from this statement that it was the reaction against the extravagances of both the Elizabethans and the metaphysicians. John Donne is a metaphysical poet and his followers liked a revolt for order, balance and sanity in literature. They used unlimited hyperbole, similes, metaphors, and exaggerated and violent concepts. This reaction supported the trend toward directness, simplicity, and expression. Writers of earlier times liked to use extravagance in thought and language. The awards were enriched with classic quotes and references. Restoration writers objected and made rules and said goodbye to romantic fantasy. So the emphasis was on propriety and decorum. Correction means encouraging moderately expressed opinions. Decorum consisted in following the rules of the ancients as interpreted by the French. Dryden clearly marked this new trend, and under his influence writers developed that formalism of style which was mistakenly called classicism.

At this time the growth of scientific, religious and political controversies was found. They all gave birth to prose. Arnold says: “The Restoration marks the actual moment of the birth of our modern English prose.” Earlier writers were erratic and their work was overloaded with allusions and classic quotes. Elizabethan prose was not really appropriate for telling a simple story. Bacon’s epigrammatic style and Milton’s bombastic prose could hardly be suitable for scientific, historical, political, and philosophical writing or for writing novels. The spirit of this new type of prose developed, and Dryden was the main leader. His work ‘Dramatic Poetry’ introduced a new model of prose that was completely different from the prose of earlier times. He wrote in a straightforward style, simple but precise, free of exaggeration. The other writers were also influenced by him and also helped to develop the new style of prose by their own individual advancement. I was pretty free of monotony.

Prose was the eminent style or weapon of this era. Even the poetry of this time was also prosaic and used for narrative, satirical or didactic purposes. Poetry was intended for persuasion but not inspiration. It was the favorable style of narrating the controversies that caused the growth of satire. The best poetry of this aeon is satirical. Dryden’s ‘Absalom and Ahithophel’ is one of the best-known political satires. In this satire, Dryden defends the king from the Earl of Shaftesbury, depicted as Ahithophel. His other work ‘Mac Flecknoe’ is an example of personal satire. It also contains a scathing personal attack on Thomas Shadwell, who was once a friend of Dryden’s. ‘The Rehearsal’ describes the literary vices of the time and is the first literary satire in English literature. The other two poems of his ‘Religio laici’ and ‘La cierva y la pantera’ are theological and controversial.

The other contribution to this time was the growth and perfection of the heroic couplet. Chaucer used it but insisted on the thought or notion. Where as the Restoration writers gave importance to the form. Waller and Dryden used it in a literary style. The verse became “Closed”. His pair of lines showed a complete thought and was expressed as accurately as possible. Thus it became the order of the day and all other forms of versification were expelled. The domain lasted a single century and later its freshness was extinguished.

Such controversies greatly disturbed the age but added great help in the case of literature. It also showed that John Dryden was an exponent of this neoclassicism and Bunyan working as John Milton was also appreciated. He brought novelty and expelled the monotony of literature.