Poetry · England, 1631–1700 · Three poems

John Dryden: the insult in a crown

How do you insult someone without using a single rude word? Dryden did it by praising a rival poet in the grand language of kings and empires. Then the rival took his job.

John Dryden, Poet Laureate, with the poet's laurel in his hand. After Godfrey Kneller · public domain

What you will learn

Identify a heroic couplet and explain how rhyme and rhythm shape meaning.
Explain mock-heroic satire: insulting someone by praising them in grand language.
Rewrite a couplet in modern English and compare the effect.

Warm-up: How would you insult someone without using a single rude word? Write two or three ideas.

Who was John Dryden?

John Dryden (1631–1700) was the most important English writer of the Restoration: poet, playwright, critic and translator. He made the heroic couplet (two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter) the standard form for serious English poetry for the next hundred years.

Year	Event
1631	Born in Northamptonshire
1668	Appointed Poet Laureate, the king's official poet
1681	Absalom and Achitophel, a political satire
1682	Mac Flecknoe published (written around 1676)
1685	Becomes a Catholic
1687	A Song for St. Cecilia's Day
1689	Loses the laureateship after the Glorious Revolution. Thomas Shadwell, the man he mocked in Mac Flecknoe, replaces him.
1697	Translation of Virgil's Aeneid
1700	Dies; buried in Westminster Abbey

Portrait of Thomas Shadwell in a long curled wig, blue coat and red cloak — Thomas Shadwell, the "Sh——" of Mac Flecknoe (English school) · public domain

Look at 1689. Why would losing his job to Shadwell hurt Dryden more than losing it to anyone else?

The heroic couplet

A heroic couplet is two lines that rhyme. Each line has ten syllables and five stresses: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM. This rhythm is called iambic pentameter.

Read the first two lines of Mac Flecknoe aloud. Then tap the five syllables in each line that you say more strongly. Press Check when you have chosen five.

Which two words rhyme? What is the poem saying in these two lines?

Text 1: Mac Flecknoe (1682), lines 1–20

Flecknoe, the old king of Nonsense, chooses Shadwell ("Sh——") as the heir to his throne because Shadwell is the dullest of all his sons.

      All human things are subject to decay,
      And, when fate summons, monarchs must obey:
      This Flecknoe found, who, like Augustus, young
      Was call'd to empire, and had govern'd long:
      In prose and verse, was own'd, without dispute
      Through all the realms of Non-sense, absolute.
      This aged prince now flourishing in peace,
      And blest with issue of a large increase,
      Worn out with business, did at length debate
      To settle the succession of the State:
      And pond'ring which of all his sons was fit
      To reign, and wage immortal war with wit;
      Cry'd, 'tis resolv'd; for nature pleads that he
      Should only rule, who most resembles me:
      Sh—— alone my perfect image bears,
      Mature in dullness from his tender years.
      Sh—— alone, of all my sons, is he
      Who stands confirm'd in full stupidity.
      The rest to some faint meaning make pretence,
      But Sh—— never deviates into sense.
    

Glosses: own'd = accepted as king · issue = children · succession = who inherits the throne · wit = intelligence, cleverness · deviates = wanders off course. The last line is the joke: Shadwell never makes sense, not even by accident.

Find the crown and the knife

Choose a colour, then tap words in the poem. Find every word that sounds royal or grand (gold), and every word that is really an insult (red). Tap a word again to clear it.

Royal or grand—

Insult—

Why does Dryden mix the two kinds of words? What is the effect?

Mock-heroic is the name for this trick: the grand style of epic poetry, used for a small or ridiculous subject, to mock it.

Text 2: A Song for St. Cecilia's Day (1687), stanza 1

The same poet, now completely serious: music created the universe out of chaos. Notice that the lines are not all the same length.

      From harmony, from heav'nly harmony
      This universal frame began:
      When Nature underneath a heap
      Of jarring atoms lay,
      And could not heave her head,
      The tuneful voice was heard from high:
      "Arise, ye more than dead."
      Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
      In order to their stations leap,
      And Music's pow'r obey.
      From harmony, from heav'nly harmony
      This universal frame began:
      From harmony to harmony
      Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
      The diapason closing full in Man.
    

Painting: Saint Cecilia in a red dress plays a large viol while a small angel holds up her music — Domenichino, Saint Cecilia (about 1617–18): the patron saint of music · public domain

Glosses: universal frame = the structure of the universe · jarring = clashing · cold, hot, moist, dry = the four qualities behind the four classical elements · compass = full range · diapason = the whole musical scale; here, the final perfect chord. Man is the last and highest note of creation.

Line 8 names four qualities. What are they, and what does music make them do? Compare Text 2 with Text 1. How is the tone different? How is the shape of the lines different?

Text 3: Virgil's Aeneid, Book 1, lines 1–10

Dryden's translation, 1697. This is the real epic voice: the story of Aeneas, the Trojan hero whose family founded Rome.

      Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate,
      And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate,
      Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore.
      Long labours, both by sea and land, he bore,
      And in the doubtful war, before he won
      The Latian realm, and built the destin'd town;
      His banish'd gods restor'd to rites divine,
      And settled sure succession in his line,
      From whence the race of Alban fathers come,
      And the long glories of majestic Rome.
    

Painting: Aeneas carries his old father on his back out of burning Troy, with his wife and young son beside him — Federico Barocci, Aeneas' Flight from Troy (1598): Aeneas carries his father out of the burning city · public domain

Glosses: haughty = proud · unrelenting = never stopping · Latian realm = Latium, the region around Rome · destin'd = fated · line = family descendants. Notice succession again: Text 1 borrows this epic vocabulary to mock Shadwell.

Which words in Text 1 copy this epic voice? Find at least three, and give the line number for each.

Rewrite a couplet

Choose one couplet (two lines) from Text 1. Rewrite it in plain, modern English. Then read both versions aloud.

The couplet I chose (copy it) My modern version Which version is funnier? Why?

Vocabulary

heroic couplet: two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter (10 syllables, 5 stresses)
iambic pentameter: da-DUM five times: "All HU-man THINGS are SUB-ject TO de-CAY"
mock-heroic: the grand, epic style used for a small or ridiculous subject, to mock it

satire: writing that attacks people or ideas through humour
ode: a formal, serious poem of praise, often with stanzas of different shapes
epic: a long poem about heroes and the founding of nations

Questions

Answer each question in two to four sentences.

1. Why is "never deviates into sense" more insulting than "he is stupid"? 2. Flecknoe is compared to Augustus, the first Roman emperor. What does that comparison do? 3. In Text 2, music brings order to chaos. Can you think of a modern example where music organises people or things? 4. Text 1 and Text 3 both use the word "succession". How does the same word feel different in each? 5. Dryden was replaced by the man he mocked. Does that change how you read Text 1?

Your mock-heroic poem

Write 4–6 mock-heroic couplets (8–12 lines) about something small and ordinary: a lazy cat, a broken phone, a slow bus. Use at least three grand words from Text 1 or Text 3. Lines must rhyme in pairs. Perfect iambic pentameter is not required.

empire
succession
realm
fate
glories
monarch
reign
majestic
throne
prince
absolute
immortal
destined
exiled
labours

My poem (one line of poetry per line)

How it will be marked (10 points):

3 rhyme in pairs
4 grand vocabulary used for a small subject
3 grammar and spelling

Extension (optional). These are the first four lines of Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel (1681). It tells the Bible story of King David, but it is really about King Charles II, who had many children with women who were not his wife. Who or what is being satirised?

        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;
      

pious = religious · ere = before · priestcraft = the power of priests · polygamy = having more than one wife · confin'd = limited, locked in

Extension: who or what is being satirised?