What do you think?
Rate this book
Selected Poems
A new and comprehensive selection of Dryden's poetry, revealing him as a master of theatricality, ventriloquism, and unmistakable originality. Brought together here are many of the poems from his time as Poet Laureate and loyal servant of the crown, including the Biblical allegory 'Absalom and Achitophel', in which the poet attacked those who intrigued against the King and earned himself a reputation for menace and a number of powerful enemies. His 'Works of Virgil' set the standard for the translation of Latin poetry. His last work, 'Fables Ancient and Modern' combined original verse and new translations, showing how he transformed the idioms and gestures of other voices and made them his own.
582 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
7 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
John Dryden
1,121 books128 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made Poet Laureate in 1668. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 5, 2020
from "Translations from Horace," Book 3 Ode 29
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say:
‘Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine,
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not heav’n itself upon the past has pow’r;
But what has been has been, and I have had my hour.’
from "The Hind and the Panther"
The sacred books, you say, are full and plain,
And every needful point of truth contain:
All who can read, interpreters may be;
Thus, though your several churches disagree,
Yet every saint has to himself alone
The secret of this philosophic stone.
These principles your jarring sects unite
When diff’ring doctors and disciples fight.
Though Luther, Zwinglius, Calvin, holy chiefs,
Have made a battle royal of beliefs
Or like wild horses several ways have whirled
The tortured text about the Christian world,
Each Jehu lashing on with furious force,
That Turk or Jew could not have used it worse.
No matter what dissension leaders make,
Where every private man may save a stake;
Ruled by the Scripture and his own advice,
Each has a blind by-path to paradise,
Where, driving in a circle slow or fast,
Opposing sects are sure to meet at last.
from "The Secular Masque"
All, all of a piece throughout;
Thy chase had a beast in view;
Thy wars brought nothing about;
Thy lovers were all untrue.
‘Tis well an old age is out,
And time to begin a new.
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say:
‘Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine,
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not heav’n itself upon the past has pow’r;
But what has been has been, and I have had my hour.’
from "The Hind and the Panther"
The sacred books, you say, are full and plain,
And every needful point of truth contain:
All who can read, interpreters may be;
Thus, though your several churches disagree,
Yet every saint has to himself alone
The secret of this philosophic stone.
These principles your jarring sects unite
When diff’ring doctors and disciples fight.
Though Luther, Zwinglius, Calvin, holy chiefs,
Have made a battle royal of beliefs
Or like wild horses several ways have whirled
The tortured text about the Christian world,
Each Jehu lashing on with furious force,
That Turk or Jew could not have used it worse.
No matter what dissension leaders make,
Where every private man may save a stake;
Ruled by the Scripture and his own advice,
Each has a blind by-path to paradise,
Where, driving in a circle slow or fast,
Opposing sects are sure to meet at last.
from "The Secular Masque"
All, all of a piece throughout;
Thy chase had a beast in view;
Thy wars brought nothing about;
Thy lovers were all untrue.
‘Tis well an old age is out,
And time to begin a new.
May 20, 2021
John Dryden was England’s first poet laureate. He was born 15 years after Shakespeare’s death, and was a contemporary of Milton. Yet to us his poetry is largely forgotten, and we remember him for his translations and his prose.
Reputation – 3/5
There could be many historical and political explanations for our neglect of Dryden. He was a monarchist, who celebrated and served the restored king, Charles II. This made him a political enemy of what the English now see as the historical march towards freedom. But it makes him much worse to our Romantic estimation: a conservative lackey.
Point – 4/5
Be that as it may, John Dryden is the English poet who most fully represents the Baroque. His poetry is stately, organized, magisterial. It exhibits “grandeur and obedience,” to take a phrase from Kenneth Clarke. Grandeur in its imitation of Roman classical models and subjects, obedience to the earthy authority of its time, Charles II.
To compare him to composers (where the word Baroque has the most concrete meaning), Dryden is most like Handel.* Lots of religious nobility, pomp, and stories drawn from the antique, all arranged into the strict forms of Baroque art. Dryden mastered and codified the heroic couplet, the rhymed, five-beat line that, for better or worse has become approximately synonymous with verse in English:
”Farewell, too little, and too lately known,
Whom I began to think and call my own:
For sure our souls were near allied, and thine
Cast in the same poetic mold with mine.”
The heroic couplet is essentially a Baroque poetic form in the same way that a prelude is Baroque musical form. That English poetry has spent more time mocking the forms of Dryden’s time in children’s rhymes and vulgar jabs than in developing and expanding them into new forms, parallel, say, to the way music evolved older forms to fit later modes of expression, is a much harsher indictment of English poets than of English poetry’s forms.
But that is neither here nor there. Taken at face value, Dryden’s poetry has no real flaws. It’s just not what we’re interested in anymore.
His satires are full of wit but no one can tolerate them. Why not? They are too specific to their time and not sufficiently good-natured. Courtly wit survives neither translation nor time. It is hard to laugh at a 400-year-old joke, yet Shakespeare makes us laugh constantly. How? Not with epigrammatic comparisons between contemporary kings and biblical rascals, but with fart jokes. But Dryden is not above a good dirty joke, and when he deigns to give us one, it’s as good as anybody’s:
“In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confin’d;
When nature prompted, and no law denied
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
Then Israel’s monarch after Heaven’s own heart,
His vigorous warmth did variously impart
To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command,
Scatter’d his Maker’s image thro’ the land.”
* - Some comparisons between Handel and Dryden for fun:
Water Music – "Annus Mirabilis"
Solomon – "Absalom and Achitophel"
The Messiah – Dryden’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid (his big hit)
Recommendation – 3/5
It’s true that Dryden’s subject matter does not offer much to the modern reader. Most of us do not know the Bible or English history well enough to grasp his allegories and this bores us. Very well. I still would recommend Dryden’s poetry as better-than-you-expect. In my own case, when I saw that the first poem in this collection “Annus Mirabilis” dragged on for 1200+ lines about English navy battles, I thought to myself “Oh god, this is going to be unbearable.” But Dryden won me over very quickly. Even lacking the historical knowledge to appreciate the finer points of the story, Dryden’s stateliness and the steady rhythm of his cadences kept me reading. Dryden brought that same dignity and musical movement to all his literary works. And though this collection features none of his translations (his most famous work), it is a good introduction to a writer unfortunately neglected today.
Personal – 4/5
In my estimation, John Dryden is the greatest Man of Letters in the history of the English language. He was an exceptional poet, an unmatched translator, and the first writer of English prose whom we can actually read for pleasure. Prose before Dryden was “intolerable… obsolete, and inconvenient,” in the words of Matthew Arnold (who maliciously underestimated Dryden as a poet). Dryden’s translations of Virgil and Plutarch are some of my favorite literary works. No modern translations equal them. But this was my first impression of Dryden as an original poet, and I came away very impressed.
I also find Dryden to be less conservative than he has been accused of being. I think of him to be more like Thomas Hobbes, who saw how precarious human nature could be, and made a rational choice for order. Many famous critics have called Dryden a slave to the crown. But could a slave really have written this?
”Then kings are slaves to those whom they command,
And tenants to their people’s pleasure stand.
Add, that the pow’r for property allow’d
Is mischievously seated in the crowd;
For who can be secure of private right,
If sovereign sway may be dissolv’d by might?
Nor is the people’s judgment always true:
The most may err as grossly as, the few;
And faultless kings run down, by common cry,
For vice, oppression, and for tyranny.”
Reputation – 3/5
There could be many historical and political explanations for our neglect of Dryden. He was a monarchist, who celebrated and served the restored king, Charles II. This made him a political enemy of what the English now see as the historical march towards freedom. But it makes him much worse to our Romantic estimation: a conservative lackey.
Point – 4/5
Be that as it may, John Dryden is the English poet who most fully represents the Baroque. His poetry is stately, organized, magisterial. It exhibits “grandeur and obedience,” to take a phrase from Kenneth Clarke. Grandeur in its imitation of Roman classical models and subjects, obedience to the earthy authority of its time, Charles II.
To compare him to composers (where the word Baroque has the most concrete meaning), Dryden is most like Handel.* Lots of religious nobility, pomp, and stories drawn from the antique, all arranged into the strict forms of Baroque art. Dryden mastered and codified the heroic couplet, the rhymed, five-beat line that, for better or worse has become approximately synonymous with verse in English:
”Farewell, too little, and too lately known,
Whom I began to think and call my own:
For sure our souls were near allied, and thine
Cast in the same poetic mold with mine.”
The heroic couplet is essentially a Baroque poetic form in the same way that a prelude is Baroque musical form. That English poetry has spent more time mocking the forms of Dryden’s time in children’s rhymes and vulgar jabs than in developing and expanding them into new forms, parallel, say, to the way music evolved older forms to fit later modes of expression, is a much harsher indictment of English poets than of English poetry’s forms.
But that is neither here nor there. Taken at face value, Dryden’s poetry has no real flaws. It’s just not what we’re interested in anymore.
His satires are full of wit but no one can tolerate them. Why not? They are too specific to their time and not sufficiently good-natured. Courtly wit survives neither translation nor time. It is hard to laugh at a 400-year-old joke, yet Shakespeare makes us laugh constantly. How? Not with epigrammatic comparisons between contemporary kings and biblical rascals, but with fart jokes. But Dryden is not above a good dirty joke, and when he deigns to give us one, it’s as good as anybody’s:
“In pious times, ere priestcraft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man on many multiplied his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confin’d;
When nature prompted, and no law denied
Promiscuous use of concubine and bride;
Then Israel’s monarch after Heaven’s own heart,
His vigorous warmth did variously impart
To wives and slaves; and, wide as his command,
Scatter’d his Maker’s image thro’ the land.”
* - Some comparisons between Handel and Dryden for fun:
Water Music – "Annus Mirabilis"
Solomon – "Absalom and Achitophel"
The Messiah – Dryden’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid (his big hit)
Recommendation – 3/5
It’s true that Dryden’s subject matter does not offer much to the modern reader. Most of us do not know the Bible or English history well enough to grasp his allegories and this bores us. Very well. I still would recommend Dryden’s poetry as better-than-you-expect. In my own case, when I saw that the first poem in this collection “Annus Mirabilis” dragged on for 1200+ lines about English navy battles, I thought to myself “Oh god, this is going to be unbearable.” But Dryden won me over very quickly. Even lacking the historical knowledge to appreciate the finer points of the story, Dryden’s stateliness and the steady rhythm of his cadences kept me reading. Dryden brought that same dignity and musical movement to all his literary works. And though this collection features none of his translations (his most famous work), it is a good introduction to a writer unfortunately neglected today.
Personal – 4/5
In my estimation, John Dryden is the greatest Man of Letters in the history of the English language. He was an exceptional poet, an unmatched translator, and the first writer of English prose whom we can actually read for pleasure. Prose before Dryden was “intolerable… obsolete, and inconvenient,” in the words of Matthew Arnold (who maliciously underestimated Dryden as a poet). Dryden’s translations of Virgil and Plutarch are some of my favorite literary works. No modern translations equal them. But this was my first impression of Dryden as an original poet, and I came away very impressed.
I also find Dryden to be less conservative than he has been accused of being. I think of him to be more like Thomas Hobbes, who saw how precarious human nature could be, and made a rational choice for order. Many famous critics have called Dryden a slave to the crown. But could a slave really have written this?
”Then kings are slaves to those whom they command,
And tenants to their people’s pleasure stand.
Add, that the pow’r for property allow’d
Is mischievously seated in the crowd;
For who can be secure of private right,
If sovereign sway may be dissolv’d by might?
Nor is the people’s judgment always true:
The most may err as grossly as, the few;
And faultless kings run down, by common cry,
For vice, oppression, and for tyranny.”
September 5, 2025
Dryden is a fun, varied poet - The Medall and MacFlecknoe are punchy satires worthy of a poet laureate, and I love his beautiful odes to music. I enjoyed his translations of the classics, despite not being too familiar with Roman writers. Perhaps not a poet I'll be returning to often, but still pretty entertaining stuff.
May 29, 2017
Curiously, I found Dryden's reputed masterpieces, "Absalom and Achitophel" and "The Hind and the Panther," to be the least fulfilling poems; they are perhaps admirable in terms of clever construction but are ultimately soulless. More engaging are the vicious satires like "Macflecknoe" and the sincere elegies like "To the Memory of Mr. Oldham." And given his preference for highfalutin intellect over everday emotion, I can see why contemporary writing programs don't teach him.
Dryden's translations are what really elevate the volume. Granted, that he renders everyone in heroic couplets is a little disappointing, but he does it so well that it hardly matters. The Chaucer treatments are especially noteworthy--I dare say I prefer his version of the "The Wife of Bath's Tale" to the original (he didn't include her prologue though, which is a shame).
Dryden's translations are what really elevate the volume. Granted, that he renders everyone in heroic couplets is a little disappointing, but he does it so well that it hardly matters. The Chaucer treatments are especially noteworthy--I dare say I prefer his version of the "The Wife of Bath's Tale" to the original (he didn't include her prologue though, which is a shame).
Read
May 9, 2022The hefty “Selected Poems” of John Dryden, as edited by Zwicker and Bywaters, serves up more than 500 pages of verse in all manner of forms and genres. Some of the poems are so rooted in 17th-century politics that I don’t feel strong connections with them, although the highly topical “Annus Mirabilis” is extremely dramatic when it gets to the Great Fire in its later stanzas. In all, the selections I like best tend to be his marvelous translations, especially of the always-sublime Lucretius but also of Homer, Juvenal, Chaucer, Bocaccio, and of course Virgil, his own favorite. Dryden was highly versatile, enormously learned, and surprisingly witty when he wanted to be. In recent years I’ve read his translations of Plutarch’s Lives and Virgil’s Aeneid, but this deeper look has greatly broadened my appreciation of his truly remarkable work.
April 15, 2012
Dryden writes with intellect but no heart. His descriptions are rarely reflective of actual reality, and while the language and meter and--I dunno--honor are all top-notch, it's very rare to come across a line of his verse that strikes any profounder chord. This Dover thrift book contains a very brief (and, it appears, heavily truncated--since the editor alludes to points he never actually makes) biographical introduction, three major poems, and a small handful of shorter works.
The first of the major poems is "Anno Mirabilis," an account of naval warfare and of a catastrophic fire that occurred in 1666. It's jingoistic. It's overlong. Its ABAB quatrains are boring. It tries to be thrilling, but its details exist merely on the page and don't evoke anything approaching vivid imagery.
Next is "Absalom and Achitophel," a massive piece of blank verse, royalist propaganda disguised as a brief bit of Old Testament storytelling. The language here is beautiful and some of the characterization is on point, but the piece never escapes its purpose; it was commissioned by the king to quell a rebellion, and it never reaches any emotional depth beyond vigor for authoritarianism. As a previous reviewer suggested, this is the only piece in this collection worth reading.
The last major piece is "Mac Flecknoe," a prolonged insult to a rival dramatist who had insulted him. Some of the more scathing jests are humorous, but the work doesn't survive its sense of momentariness. So you were a better writer than this other guy? Okay, I believe you, if only because I've never even heard of this other guy. But where's your soulful masterpiece which proves you were a better writer? Biased history, a defense of tyranny, and an insult--that's really not much of a legacy.
The first of the major poems is "Anno Mirabilis," an account of naval warfare and of a catastrophic fire that occurred in 1666. It's jingoistic. It's overlong. Its ABAB quatrains are boring. It tries to be thrilling, but its details exist merely on the page and don't evoke anything approaching vivid imagery.
Next is "Absalom and Achitophel," a massive piece of blank verse, royalist propaganda disguised as a brief bit of Old Testament storytelling. The language here is beautiful and some of the characterization is on point, but the piece never escapes its purpose; it was commissioned by the king to quell a rebellion, and it never reaches any emotional depth beyond vigor for authoritarianism. As a previous reviewer suggested, this is the only piece in this collection worth reading.
The last major piece is "Mac Flecknoe," a prolonged insult to a rival dramatist who had insulted him. Some of the more scathing jests are humorous, but the work doesn't survive its sense of momentariness. So you were a better writer than this other guy? Okay, I believe you, if only because I've never even heard of this other guy. But where's your soulful masterpiece which proves you were a better writer? Biased history, a defense of tyranny, and an insult--that's really not much of a legacy.
February 21, 2016
I review the Oxford Poetry Library edition.
The earlier satires, including MacFlecknoe and Absalom and Achitophel, are forceful and majestic.
His translations of Virgil and Lucretius touch on and expose fierce aspects of humankind with calculated precision. No wonder TS Eliot was such an admirer.
I have no idea why Keith Walker included his translation of Juvenal's most despicably misogynist satire. Though it made me realise the vehement grotesqueness of the tradition Chaucer turned on its head (with a woman attacking men) when he wrote his prologue to the Wife of Bath.
Some 140 pages are then taken up with Dryden's Fables Ancient and Modern. Most of these stories are from Ovid. I've read most of them in other translations so didn't feel the need to read them again - though the few I looked at were excellently translated.
The earlier satires, including MacFlecknoe and Absalom and Achitophel, are forceful and majestic.
His translations of Virgil and Lucretius touch on and expose fierce aspects of humankind with calculated precision. No wonder TS Eliot was such an admirer.
I have no idea why Keith Walker included his translation of Juvenal's most despicably misogynist satire. Though it made me realise the vehement grotesqueness of the tradition Chaucer turned on its head (with a woman attacking men) when he wrote his prologue to the Wife of Bath.
Some 140 pages are then taken up with Dryden's Fables Ancient and Modern. Most of these stories are from Ovid. I've read most of them in other translations so didn't feel the need to read them again - though the few I looked at were excellently translated.
July 6, 2014
Why should a foolish marriage vow,
Which long ago was made,
Oblige us to each other now,
When passion is decay'd?
We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we could,
Till our love was lov'd out in us both;
But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled:
'T was pleasure first made it an oath.
- Songs from Marriage A La Mode
Dryden's rhythm and wit together made the collection quite enjoyable. I liked Absalom and Achitophel much better than Annus Mirabilis. I'm quite curious to read one of his plays as well.
Which long ago was made,
Oblige us to each other now,
When passion is decay'd?
We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we could,
Till our love was lov'd out in us both;
But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled:
'T was pleasure first made it an oath.
- Songs from Marriage A La Mode
Dryden's rhythm and wit together made the collection quite enjoyable. I liked Absalom and Achitophel much better than Annus Mirabilis. I'm quite curious to read one of his plays as well.
Read
October 14, 2007Read Absalom and Achitophel
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews