The Just and the Lively: The Literary Criticism of John DrydenJohn Dryden is the father of English literary criticism. In The Just and the Lively, Michael Werth Gelber provides the first complete study of his criticism since Dryden's death almost three hundred years ago. Through a detailed reading of each of his essays, the book explains and illustrates the unity and the development of Dryden's thought. It demonstrates that, even as he based his first principles on his own poems and plays, Dryden tried to resolve what, since the early sixteenth century, had been a key problem in western literature: how to reconcile the demand of classical unity with the bewildering variety of Renaissance drama and romance. The figure who emerges from these pages is a man deeply responsive to the social, political, and intellectual currents of his age. An important influence on critics as diverse as Samuel Johnson and T. S. Eliot, Dryden retains the power to enlighten and delight the reader of today. |
Contents
ONE The ends of criticism | 9 |
TWO From theory to practice 1664 | 22 |
THREE A French play 16651668 | 43 |
Copyright | |
9 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Just and the Lively: The Literary Criticism of John Dryden Michael Werth Gelber Limited preview - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
A]ccount Aeneid Annus Mirabilis argues argument Ariosto Aristotle audience characters Chaucer classical comic Conquest of Granada contemporaries courtier courtier-poet Crites critical theory Davenant Davenant's decorum dedication Defence Discourse concerning discussion Dramatic Poesy Dramatick Poesie Dryden's criticism English epic Epilogue Essay of Dramatick Eugenius Evening's Love explains Fletcher French Furioso genre Gondibert hence heroic drama heroic play Heroique Playes Homer Horace humour Ibid imagination imitation John Dryden Johnson judgment kind language learned Literary Criticism literature lively Longinus low comedy manner moral nature Neander never Ovid passion playwright pleasure plot poem poet poetic poetry Preface to Fables principles prologue prose Renaissance Restoration rhyme Rival Ladies Roman rules satire says scholars Secret Love seventeenth century Shadwell Shakespeare Siege of Rhodes stage Studies style T. S. Eliot thought tradition tragedy tragi-comedy translation Tyrannick Love unity University Press verse Virgil William Davenant words write XVII