John Dryden
John Dryden (1631–1700) was an English poet, critic, and playwright who served as the first Poet Laureate. His works—including "Absalom and Achitophel," "Mac Flecknoe,"…
"He who could view the book of destiny, And read whatever there was writ of thee, O charming youth, in the first opening page, So ma"
"Full twenty years and more, our labouring stage Has lost on this incorrigible age: Our poets, the John Ketches of the nation"
"Who, Being Crossed By Their Friends, Fell Mad For One Another; And Now First Meet In Bedlam. [Music within.] The Lovers enter at oppo"
"FROM harmony, from heavenly harmony This universal frame began: When nature underneath a heap Of jarring atoms lay, And could not heave her head, The"
"We act by fits and starts, like drowning men, But just peep up, and then pop down again. Let those who call us wicked change"
"When factious rage to cruel exile drove The queen of beauty,[1] and the court of love, The Muses droop'd, with their forsake"
"Well, then, the promised hour is come at last, The present age of wit obscures the past: Strong were our sires, and as they"
"He who in impious times undaunted stood, And 'midst rebellion durst be just and good; Whose arms asserted, and whose sufferings more"
"As Jupiter I made my court in vain; I'll now assume my native shape again. I'm weary to be so unkindly used, And would not be a god to be refused. Sta"
"Auspicious poet, wert thou not my friend, How could I envy, what I must commend! But since 'tis nature's law, in love and wit, That youth should reign"
"AN ODE, IN HONOUR OF ST CECILIA'S DAY. 'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won By Philip's warlike son: Aloft in awful s"
"Of gentle blood, his parents' only treasure, Their lasting sorrow, and their vanish'd pleasure, Adorn'd with features, virtu"
"I feed a flame within, which so torments me, That it both pains my heart, and yet contents me: 'Tis such a pleasing smart, a"
"So fair, so young, so innocent, so sweet, So ripe a judgment, and so rare a wit, Require at least an age in one to meet. In her the"
"As when a tree's cut down, the secret root Lives under ground, and thence new branches shoot; So from old Shakspeare's honou"
"Written In The Year 1662. As needy gallants, in the scrivener's hands, Court the rich knaves that gripe their mortgaged lands;"
"Discord and plots, which have undone our age, With the same ruin have o'erwhelm'd the stage. Our house has suffer'd in the c"
"The famed Italian Muse, whose rhymes advance Orlando and the Paladins of France, Records, that, when our wit and sense is flown, 'Tis lodged within th"
"They who have best succeeded on the stage, Have still conform'd their genius to their age. Thus Jonson did mechanic humour s"
"The Grecian wits, who Satire first began, Were pleasant Pasquins on the life of man; At mighty villains, who the state oppre"
"POETS, like lawful monarchs, ruled the stage, Till critics, like damn'd Whigs, debauch'd our age. Mark how they jump: critic"
"BY LODOWICK CARLELL, ESQ., 1690. SPOKEN BY MR HART. With sickly actors and an old house too, We're match'd with glorious"
"As there is music uninform'd by art In those wild notes, which, with a merry heart, The birds in unfrequented shades express, Who, better taught at ho"