John Dryden

He tied the nuptial knot with Lady Elizabeth, royalist sister of Sir Robert Howard. The couple was blessed with three children, all sons.

He breathed his last on May 12, 1700. Initially buried in St Anne’s Cemetery, he was later reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.

John Dryden was the eldest of the fourteen children born to Erasmus Dryden and wife Mary Pickering in the village church house of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire.

Young Dryden spent much of his early days in the village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire, wherein he received his preliminary education. Later in 1644, he was enrolled as a King’s Scholar at the Westminster School, which was going through a period of unrest on religious and political matters.

It was at Westminster that he developed the art of rhetoric and presentation of both sides of the argument, a skill that stayed with him for life and influenced much of his later works and thinking.

In 1649, while still at Westminster, he came up with his first published verse, an elegy titled, ‘Upon the Death of Lord Hastings’. Having a royalist feel, the poem was a written emotional tale of the death of his schoolmate Henry, Lord Hastings from smallpox.

Upon completing his studies, he entered the Trinity College, in Cambridge the following year in 1650. Therein, he took to studying classics, rhetoric and mathematics. Four years later, he graduated with top ranks from the college with a degree in arts.

Following his father’s death in June 1654, he acquired possession of a land that generated some income, but not enough to sustain a living. As such, he moved to London to acquire work with Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe.

In 1658, on the death of Lord Protector Cromwell, he penned a poem ‘Heroique Stanzas’ a tribute to Cromwell. The content of the poem was cautiously written with prudent emotional presentation.

Two years later, he celebrated the Restoration of the Monarchy and the jubilant return of Charles II with the penned verse, ‘Astraea Redux’ which was an authentic royalist panegyric. He portrayed a royal image of Charles II as the restorer of peace and order.

The establishment of the monarchy coincided with his establishment as the leading poet and critic of the time. He rendered his complete support, loyalty and commitment to the new government which was visible with the publication of his works, ‘To His Sacred Majesty: A Panegyric on his Coronation’ and ‘To My Lord Chancellor’ both released in 1662.

It was while looking to court a patron that he started to make a living by writing for publishers and the general public instead for the aristocrats and the royalties. He started writing poems that celebrated public events.

A Poet Laureate, he dominated the literary life during the Restoration Period.