John Dryden

Born in Northamptonshire in 1631, John Dryden grew up during a time of political and religious upheaval and went on to become one of the central literary figures of his age. He studied at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and built a career that ranged across poetry, drama, criticism, and translation.

Dryden is especially remembered for the range of his achievements. He wrote major plays for the Restoration stage, became famous for poems such as Annus Mirabilis, Absalom and Achitophel, and Mac Flecknoe, and developed a clear, supple prose style that made him an important literary critic as well as a poet. He also became Poet Laureate, and his work helped establish the heroic couplet as a leading poetic form in English.

Later in life, Dryden produced admired translations of classical authors, including Virgil, and remained a major presence in English letters until his death in London in 1700. For many readers, he stands as one of the great shaping forces between Shakespeare’s age and the rise of Augustan poetry.