An Essay of Dramatic Poesy

John Dryden was the most influential English poet of the 17th century. In fact, the literary era in which he worked is often called the Age of Dryden. Considered a progenitor of the field of literary criticism, Dryden not only wrote poetry and plays, but also treatises—like “An Essay of Dramatic Poesy”—on the purposes and qualities of literary expression. Born to a Puritan family in 1631, Dryden lived through a tumultuous period in history, with civil war as the backdrop to his youth and a repressive Puritan Interregnum (1649-1660) that impinged on his authorial coming-of-age. He would eventually rise to the position of Poet Laureate. Dryden was a shrewd operator in a divisive time, composing a poem in tribute to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, upon his death and later penning a panegyric in praise of the restoration of Charles II to the throne. He remained a staunch royalist until his death in 1700.

In “An Essay of Dramatic Poesy,” Dryden’s voice speaks through the character of Neander, whose name means “new man” in Greek. Neander’s role is to act as the impassioned defender of English literary and theatrical greatness as well as to justify the use of