Discourses on Satire and Epic Poetry

John Dryden (1631 ù 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England. In 1650 Dryden went to Trinity College, Cambridge. Dryden began work with CromwellŽs Secretary of State, John Thurloe. His first published poem was Heroique Stanzas (1658), which was a eulogy on CromwellŽs death. Many of his poems were written about the prominent people in the public eye. DrydenŽs greatest achievements were in satiric verse. The purpose of satire is not primarily humor. It is used as an attack on something of which the author strongly disapproves. This volume contains "A Discourse on the Original and Progress of Satire", prefixed to The Satires of Juvenal, Translated (1692) and "A Discourse on Epic Poetry", prefixed to the translation of Virgil's Aeneid (1697).