Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues. The musk-rose, and the well-attired woodbine, And daffodillies fill their cups with tears To strew the laureat hearse where Lycid lies. Let our frail thoughts dally with false surmise; Where thou perhaps, under the whelming tide, 4 Where the great Vision of the guarded mount Weep no more, woeful shepherds, weep no more, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor; 1 the dog-star 2 early 3 laureled 4 a Cornish giant And yet anon repairs his drooping head And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high. 1 Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves; 1 With nectar pure his oozy locks he laves, Thus sang the uncouth swain to the oaks and rills, 4 Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. From the "Areopagitica." 1 Note the special aptness of this fine allusion. 2 inexpressible 8 pastoral 4 Meaning? DRYDEN 1631-1700 THE father of John Dryden was a Puritan of Northamptonshire and a man of considerable means and good family. The poet was born in the year 1631. Of his earlier years we know little beyond the facts that he was a pupil at Westminster School and that he took his degree at Cambridge. His first appearance as a candidate for poetical honors was in the year 1658, when, upon the death of Cromwell, he published his verses laudatory of the Puritan leader. Upon the Restoration of Charles II. the poet was sufficiently impartial in the distribution of his favors to put forth a congratulatory ode upon that "happy event." Throughout the decade following, Dryden maintained himself chiefly by writing for the dramatic stage, producing during this time more than a score of plays. In 1668 he was made poet-laureate, which place he held till the Revolution of 1688, when the honor was transferred to Shadwell. In the reign of James, Dryden had embraced the Catholic faith, and could therefore hardly complain when the laureateship was withdrawn from him. This change, however, gave him the opportunity to display his mastery of satire, as well as to gratify his resentment, in the poem "Mac Flecknoe," in which he mercilessly ridicules his successor's poetic pretensions. While he was laureate the income of that post sufficed to render Dryden's circumstances somewhat easy; but he appears throughout his life to have been more or less needy, often using his pen for gain rather than for fame, as, indeed, he frankly avowed was the fact in all his writing for the stage. He died, of a complication of disorders, on the 1st of May, 1700. His dramatic works, though forming a considerable part of Dryden's literary remains, have contributed scarcely anything to his fame as a poet. This rests chiefly upon his translations from the Latin poets, notably the "Æneid" of Virgil, upon his satires, odes, and shorter poems, and upon his contributions to literary criticism. He was the first of English writers to lay down a system of generai rules by which the merits of a composition might be determined, as well as the first to define the limits within which the license of poetical translation should properly confine itself. He seems also to have been the first to combine poetry with philosophy, - a method still further developed in the writings of Pope. Most of Dryden's satires were prompted by political enmities or rivalries. His best-known production in this field is entitled "Absalom and Achitophel," in which the principal victims of his invective were the Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Shaftesbury. The most important of his prose writings is his "Essay on Dramatic Poetry." His so-called "Fables," which were merely tales in verse, and his second ode for St. Cecilia's day, both written shortly before his death, so far from showing any decay of the poet's powers, are justly regarded as superior to much of his earlier work. The bent of Dryden's mind was argumentative and controversial. He was not a poet of the emotions, nor did Nature in any of her aspects appeal to him as an interpreter. The whole body of his verse contains little to indicate sensibility to things simple and natural, and nothing that is pathetic. It has accordingly been a favorite criticism upon his translations that they lose in the rendering much of the tender charm of the originals. SONG FOR ST. CECILIA'S DAY1 FROM harmony, from heavenly harmony Of jarring atoms lay, 1 This poem was written in 1687 for the occasion of the annual celebration of St. Cecilia's day by a London musical society. Ten years later, and for the same object, Dryden wrote his longer ode, entitled, "Alexander's Feast; or, the Power of Music." Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and to her has been ascribed the invention of the organ. And could not heave her head, The tuneful voice was heard from high, Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry And music's power obey. From harmony, from heavenly harmony From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, What passion can not music raise and quell! His listening brethren stood around, To worship that celestial sound. Less than a god they thought there could not dwell Within the hollow of that shell That spoke so sweetly and so well. What passion can not music raise and quell! The trumpet's loud clangor Excites us to arms, And mortal alarms. The double, double, double beat Cries, "Hark! the foes come; Charge, charge, 't is too late to retreat!" The soft complaining flute 1 the entire compass of tones |