Dryden was born in 1631 to a Puritan family in Aldwinkle All Saints, Northamptonshire. He was the oldest of fourteen children. His family was not rich, but they managed to scrape enough money together to send him to school at Westminster and at the University of Cambridge, where he received a B.A. degree in 1654. In 1657, he went to London and briefly served Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell’s government in a minor position (Sherburn 711). He wrote an elegy on the death of Cromwell called Heroic Stanzas. He then turned right around and wrote a congratulatory poem to Charles II, who was ascending the throne. He was now a Royalist, and his two poems celebrating the Restoration, Astraea Redux and Panegyric, were topics of much political controversy.

Dryden was appointed poet laureate and royal historiographer in 1668, a position he retained for twenty years. His poetry is “public” in nature, not private or sentimental. His poems are based on true people and events, which according to Stanley Archer, “sometimes causes modern readers to have a difficult time understanding the many parallels and analogies of his work” (1223). He is known for presenting many viewpoints and ideas, then either defending one as ideal or providing a middle ground.

Some critics say that John Dryden’s work lacks emotional depth. They say that he would rather scorn and condemn what he opposes rather than admire and appreciate what he is defending. They do praise his rational tone, subtle style, and direct expression. But, no matter what critics think, Dryden will always be known as one of the best writers of his time.

, he married Lady Elizabeth Howard. She was his friend’s sister. It was rumored that John had been bullied into marriage by her brothers. Some say that they were happily married, but most of my research concluded that they did have problems. She was a woman with many issues, and she always seemed to be surrounded by unnecessary drama. She wrote a letter to the second Earl of Chesterfield, in which she vaguely depicted an intimate affair with a nobleman. John could never please her and she treated him for the most part very badly. They both loved their children though, and that was the one thing that they agreed on (Stephen 65).

In the first part of the poem, Dryden discredits the Whig opponents of the King. When exclusionist bills came up, Charles II dismisses Parliament. He refused to convene Parliament after 1681. At the end of the poem, Dryden praises the King’s supporters and also has the King appear, showing David (Charles II) facing his opponents (Archer 1224).

In 1681, he wrote his first and some say, greatest poem of his career. Absa

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