Modern, fully annotated, and covering the period of 1686 through 1693, this is Volume Three of the works of the greatest writer in Restoration England, John Dryden!
- This is the result of a complete reappraisal of the canon, text and context of John Dryden's poetry!
- Features The Hind and the Panther and Discourse Concerning Satire.
- Modernized text, headnotes and extensive annotations make Dryden's poetry more understandable and puts it in contemporary context, explaining motive and style.
The Poems of John Dryden - Volume 3 is published in the
Longman Annotated English Poets series in a four volume edition (Volume 4 due September 2000), examines all the poetry of Dryden (1631-1700) and is the result of a complete reappraisal of the canon, the text and the context of his work. The modernized text is prepared from a fresh examination of early printed editions, and takes account of the large number of surviving manuscripts. The annotation is particularly substantial for the most important poems and a headnote accompanies each one, giving details of its date, circumstances, publication history, sources and contemporary reception.
Volume 3 covers the poems published between 1686 and 1693, a watershed period which saw Dryden's fall from official favor at the Revolution of 1688-89. Important poetry covered includes
The Hind and the Panther, Dryden's
apologia for his new Roman Catholic beliefs. The extensive headnote and annotation to this poem explain its allegorical procedures and subtle theological arguments, while also analyzing its use of sources. Another principle inclusion in this volume is
Discourse Concerning Satire, Dryden's extended critique of the history and practice of satire - the most substantial and influential essay on the topic in the seventeenth century.
Paul Hammond is in the Department of English at the University of Leeds.
David Hopkins is in the Department of English at the University of Bristol.
