John Dryden (1631-1700)

letteratura inglese

John Dryden (1631-1700)

John Dryden is a turncoat; a person who often change his opinion. He changed his opinions and religion a lot of times. Es. He wrote an ode to Cromwell and then he turned his mind to royalism. He was a wonderful scholar, he belong to the elitist culture.
He wrote a lot of Satyrical verse and Prose in order to comment what was happening (see Norton anthology.

HEROIC STANZA
Allegory in which he talks about the Popish plot: Charles II had no legitimate heirs, but he had a son called Monmouth, whose supporter were 929e45j the new whigs
In this satirical verse he underline the great danger of that situation, which could bring to a civil war.

The satire is used for political and social aims. Dryden was also a dramatist. He looks back at Shakespeare BUT "we can do it better". This brought to the rewriting of Shakespeare to make him more adapt to the current era.

[HEROIC TRAGEDY
(different from Shakespeare tragedy in which there was always a little of comedy)

"Antonio and Cleopatra" was pushed in this direction. It comprehends political matters and love. Dryden rewrite this tragedy with the new title "All for love", with a stress on the MORAL RESTRAINT. Dryden's rewritings is more "down to earth", and this the tendency of the whole period. Writers manipulate the past to their needs, and the needs of their audience (that is smaller, aristocratic, royal).

The freedom of renaissance is no longer existing. Now there's a dictact on how to write.

Dryden converted to Catholicism when James II (Charles II 's brother) came to the throne. When William and Mary came to the throne, with the glorious revolution and the Protestantism, John Dryden lost his favour.

Charles II: catholic sympathizer (but he could not tell).

James II: openly catholic
Anna & Mary (james' daughters). Mary marries William d'Orange; they reestablish protestantesim.
1678-1681: Great turbulence because of the risk of a civil war.
1682: Dryden's "absolom and Arcitophel"; based on a biblical passage by Samuel. At that moment the Bible was known better than today. (the bible had been translated by james I in 1611 (james VI for the scots). The language was satirical and simple. Johnson, who was very careful about language, said that Dryden created a more simple English (language that will be used in newspapers and tabloids). He talks about politics in general, and he works on more tha one level. He got inimate with Charles II; he adimires the king but he didn't hide his __________.
Monmouth: an alternative to James II who was catholic. To avoid this kind of contrast, Charles shut down the parliament (thanks to a loan of money from france). This shows how different it was the balance between monarchy and parliament; the king could do anything he wanted to.

Titus Oates: he thought that Jesuits threatened of killing the king and of burning London. This generate a violent movement against the catholics.

Popish Plot.
1666 Great fire of London; since that event English are obsessed by fire.

"Absolom & Arcitophel" is written in HEROIC COUPLETS; that is verses with 10 syllables each, like the ones used by Shakespeare and Marlowe. There are ________rime____, a high register (even if the language is simple);
la forma del testo deve rispettare il conenuto; perciò usa le heroic couplets e non la prosa. E per lo stesso motivo si rifà a Marlowe e Shakespeare.
Juvenal and Horace; Latin poets who first use the satyre. Dryden translated a lot of their works. Those poets, with their kind of work are similar to our Guzzanti, Luttazzi, Dario Fo, Grillo, Nanni Moretti.