Poem of the Day (May 19)

[Anonymous No.20389359]

What are your thoughts on this poem, /lit/?

Happy the Man by John Dryden

Yesterday's poem >>20384765

[Anonymous No.20389360]

>John Dryden (1631 – 1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was appointed England's first Poet Laureate in 1668. 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. Romanticist writer Sir Walter Scott called him "Glorious John".
>Dryden was the dominant literary figure and influence of his age. He established the heroic couplet as a standard form of English poetry by writing successful satires, religious pieces, fables, epigrams, compliments, prologues, and plays with it; he also introduced the alexandrine and triplet into the form. In his poems, translations, and criticism, he established a poetic diction appropriate to the heroic couplet—Auden referred to him as "the master of the middle style"—that was a model for his contemporaries and for much of the 18th century. The considerable loss felt by the English literary community at his death was evident in the elegies written about him. Dryden's heroic couplet became the dominant poetic form of the 18th century. Alexander Pope was heavily influenced by Dryden and often borrowed from him; other writers were equally influenced by Dryden and Pope. Pope famously praised Dryden's versification in his imitation of Horace's Epistle II.i: "Dryden taught to join / The varying pause, the full resounding line, / The long majestic march, and energy divine." Samuel Johnson[25] summed up the general attitude with his remark that "the veneration with which his name is pronounced by every cultivator of English literature, is paid to him as he refined the language, improved the sentiments, and tuned the numbers of English poetry." His poems were very widely read, and are often quoted, for instance, in Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and Johnson's essays.

[Anonymous No.20389525]

Fantastic couplets. We need more Dryden on this board.

[Anonymous No.20389661]

>>20389359
God I wish that were me

[Anonymous No.20389688]

>>20389359
>>20389360
I'm loving these daily poem threads. Thanks for the consistent effort posts anon

[Anonymous No.20389796]

>>20389688
>effort posts
>they're just screenshots of short poems and copied life info from wikipedia

[Anonymous No.20389805]

>>20389796
discipline for the sake of others always requires effort

[Anonymous No.20390007]

A poem with no images?

[Anonymous No.20390013]

>>20389359
I think I'll commit this one to memory.

[Anonymous No.20390047]

this has become a very comfy part of my routine
thank you poem poster

[Anonymous No.20390165]

>>20390007
Pretty normal for gnomic poetry.

[Anonymous No.20390839]

Bump

[Anonymous No.20392039]

Bump

[Anonymous No.20392615]

Discussing this pleasant poem with some old ladies