Chief Characteristics

of Dryden as Critic
Barkhia Abbas
BS English(5th)
Roll No. 8379
 CRITICISM

“The act of expressing approval or disapproval and of

noting the problems or faults of a person or thing, this is
called criticism.”
A remark or comment that expresses disapproval or approval of
someone or something.
Like As,
The activity of making careful judgments about the good and bad
qualities of books, movies, etc.
 “A person
who judges,
evaluates, or
criticizes.”
 John
Dryden
(1631-
1700)
As A critic
Introduction
He was born in England,
on August 9, 1631.
  He is seen as
dominating the literary
life of Restoration
England to such a point
that the period came to be
known in literary circles
as the Age of Dryden.
Died in London on May
12, 1700.
“Boldness is a mask for
fear, however great.”
John
Dryden
 Brief Introduction
Dryden was both a writer and a critic.
•  John Dryden is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”. He
was the first to teach the English people to determine the merit of composition
upon principles. With Dryden, a new era of criticism began. Before, Dryden,
there were only occasional utterances on the critical art. (E.g. Ben Jonson and
Philip Sidney) Though Dryden’s criticism was of scattered nature; he paid
attention to almost all literary forms and expressed his views on them.
Except An Essay of Dramatic Poesy.
His best-known critical work, An Essay on Dramatic Poesy.
 An Essay on Dramatic Poesy

In 1668 Dryden wrote “An Essay of Dramatic Poesy”.

Original title of the book is ‘Of Dramatick Poesie, an Essay’.
For which he is known as ‘The Father of English Literary
Criticism’.
In his book we can see both the side of John Dryden, Dryden as a
poet and Dryden as a playwright.
He write this essay as a dramatic dialogue with the four
characters representing four critical positions.
 An Essay on Dramatic Poesy

In this book he favors the modern-English plays, but does

not disparage the ancients.
He also favors English drama and has some critical things to
say of French drama:
“Those beauties of the French poesy are such as will raise
perfection higher where it is, but are not sufficient to give it
where it is not: they are indeed the beauties of a statue, but not
of a man.”
(Textual Reference)
In this book he discusses this five
issues:

1)Ancients vs. English Drama

2)Unities
3)French vs. English drama
4)Separation of Tragedy and Comedy vs. Tragicomedy
5)Appropriateness of rhyme in drama.
 Debate among four friends

Eugenius (Charles Sackville)

Crites (Sir Robert Howard
Lisideius (Sir Charles Sedley)
Neander (thought to represent Dryden)
 Eugenius,
Crites, Lisideius
and Neander
Characteristics of john Dryden as
critic

Dryden was, First historical critic, first comparative critic,

first descriptive critic and the Independent English critic.
In this way he (Dryden) develops historical, comparative,
and descriptive forms of criticism, and finally gives his own
independent views through the replies of Neander.  He
respects the ancient Greek and Roman principles but he
refuses to adhere to them slavishly.
 Dryden AS CRITIC

He said that French plays have only one plot without sub-plot.
He criticized French drama essentially for its smallness.
To prove his argument he compare Shakespeare with Ben Jonson
and said that:
“Shakespeare had the largest and most comprehensive soul, while
Jonson was the most largest and most judicious writer which any
theater ever had.”
(Textual Reference)
 Characteristics of john Dryden as
critic

Dryden was concerned always with the literary form.

Dryden was the first critic who took to criticism seriously and
through deeply over the problems of literature.
Dryden who first of all took a comprehensive view of literature
as a whole.
Dryden was the first judicial critic. His criticism is judicious.
 Textual Reference From Book (An
Essay of Dramatic Poesy)
In the words of prof. Sainsbury, “It is in criticism that Dryden best
shows that original faculty which has often been denied to him
elsewhere.”
About his Prefaces, Swift has pertinently said:
“Read all the prefaces of Dryden
For these our critics must confide in,
Though merely writ as first for filling
To raise the volume’s price a shilling.”

(Page no. 33……..)

 Characteristics of john Dryden as
critic
John Dryden was one of the few people in his age who had the
courage to go against the slavish devotion to the classical school
advocated by the French critics.
He firmly believed that true artists cannot be made by a blind
following of rules.
T.S. Eliot considered him as ‘positively the first master of
English criticism’.
Dryden’s basic faith in the mimetic form of art, and the Horatian
function of literature is unshakable.
 Characteristics

Dryden’s basic faith in the mimetic form of art, and the Horatian
function of literature is unshakable.
For the first time, literary works are examined with literary
problems in mind.
According to him, the life that is observed by the poet had to be
shaped by imagination that is controlled by judgment.
Despite being a neo-classical, he rejected the authority of any rigid
theory or person because he believed art to be an organic, living
force operating under the influence of different ages, nations and
tastes.
 Characteristics
The most important quality of Dryden as a critic is his
liberal outlook on literature.
Dryden is the first English critic to make use of the
historical method of criticism.
P. W. Ker says, “He is sceptical, tentative, disengaged,
where most of his contemporaries, and most of his
successor for a hundred years, are pledged to certain
dogmas and principle.”
(Textual Reference, page no. 33…….)
 Characteristics

He regarded literature as a mirror of society reflecting the

characteristics of that age.
He viewed literature as a dynamic force changing with the
spirit of each succeeding generation and varying with the taste
of each nation.
He has his limitation too.
The most distinctive quality of Dryden as a critic in his
liberal outlook on literature which widened as his critical
powers devolved and matured.
 Characteristics

Dryden was never a servile imitator of the rules of

classical writing.
He was highly sensitive to the changing tastes of people
and to the requirements of his own age.
He refused to pay blind allegiance to any authority
however great it may be.
He was always conscious of his own freedom.
 Textual Reference From
Book(Critical opinions)
His greatness as a critic may be very well evaluated on the basis
of the following critical opinions:
1.George Saintsbury-Dryden “established…….the English fashion
of criticizing, as Shakespeare did the English fashion of
dramatizing.”
2.George Watson.- “The first English man to attempt any extended
descriptive criticism was john Dryden.
An Essay of Dramatic Poetry(Page no.
34….)
 Critical opinion

3. T.S Eliot.- “The greatest work of Dryden in criticism is that

at the right moment he became conscious of the necessity of
affirming the native element in literature.
An Essay of
Dramatic Poetry(Page no. 34….)
Dryden does not make
a fetish of the so-called
Rules.

John Dryden
 CONCLUSION
Dryden was both a writer and a critic. His best and well known qualities
are, his positive contribution to the art of criticism and his liberalism as a
Critic. His changing tastes and interests helped to make him responsive to
different kinds of literary skill and artistic conventions. He set criticism on
new and fruitful lines. At the end of his book he gave this words to
Neander that:
“If I would compare him with Shakespeare, I must acknowledge
him the more correct Poet, but Shakespeare the grater wit.
Shakespeare was the Homer or Father of our Dramatick Poets;
Jonson was the Virgil, the pattern of elaborate writing; I admire
him, but I love Shakespeare. ”
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