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Johnson's Life of Dryden [ed.] by P. Peterson
Johnson's Life of Dryden by P Peterson - ed. Author:Samuel Johnson General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1899 Subjects: Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Literary Criticism / Poetry Poetry / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and ther... more »e may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: SUMMARY OF JOHNSON'S LIFE OF DRYDEN. 1. Life of Dryden, pp. 1-41. Dryden was born in Northamptonshire in 1631, brought up as an Anabaptist, and inherited an estate worth two hundred pounds a year. Educated at Westminster School and Cambridge, and wrote poems at both places. First public performance, Heroic Stanzas on Cromwell, followed by Astrea Redux, on the Restoration. (Johnson defends him from the charge of inconstancy.) Wrote plays from 1663 for thirty-one years. 1. Wild Gallant, unsuccessful. 2. Eival Ladies, first attempt at dramatic rhyme. 3. Indian Emperor, sequel to Howard's Indian Queen. In 1667, Anrms Mirabilis, in quatrains ; here he begins to commend his own performances. In 1668 became Laureate and published Essay on Dramatic Poetry. 4. Secret Love. 5. Sir Martin Marall, accused of plagiarism. 6. The Tempest, a variation of Shakespeare's play. In 1673 he attacked Settle's Empress of Morocco. 7. An Evening's Love, with a preface on the Drama. 8. Tyrannic Love, severely criticised. 9. Conquest of Granada, majestic and incredible, ridiculed by Clifford. Elkanah Settle retaliated by attacking the Conquest of Granada. 10. Marriage a-la-mode. 11. The Assignation, driven off the stage. 12. Amboyna, to inflame the nation against the Dutch. 13. Troilus and Cressida, imitation of Shakspearc. 14. The Spanish Friar, written against the Papists. 15. The Duke of Guise, offended the Covenanters. 16. Al...« less