The Poems Of John Dryden Volume One

These first two volumes in a four-volume edition of Dryden's poems are the result of a complete reappraisal of the canon, text and context of his work. The text has been prepared from a fresh examination of the early printed editions, and takes account of the large number of manuscript copies which survive. Two recently discovered poems are included here for the first time. Headnotes to each poem provide details of the poem's date, publication history, sources and contemporary reception. Detailed explanations are given of the controversies addressed in his political poems, and particular attention is paid to Dryden's translations from classical writers including Virgil, Horace, Ovid and Lucretius. Volume I covers the poems of Dryden from 1649 to 1681.

For the first time since 1695, a complete text of De Arte Graphica as Dryden himself wrote it is available to readers. In all, Volume XX presents six pieces written during Dryden's final decade, each of them either requested by a friend or commissioned by a publisher. Two are translations, three introduce translations made by others, and the sixth introduces an original work by one of Dryden's friends. The most recent version of De Arte Graphica, Saintsbury's late nineteenth-century reissue of Scott's edition, based the text of the translated matter on an edition that was heavily revised by someone other than Dryden. In fact, only one of the pieces offered here, the brief Character of Saint-Evremond, has appeared complete in a twentieth-century edition. The commentary in this volume supplies biographical and bibliographical contexts for these pieces and draws attention to the views on history and historians, poetry and painting, Virgil and translation, which Dryden expresses in them. Many other volumes of prose, poetry, and plays are available in the California Edition of The Works of John Dryden.

This volume contains the poems of Dryden extending from 1649 to 1680. Along with the poems of Dryden and associated extensive commentaries and textual notes from the editors, this volume contains the dramatic prologues and epilogues Dryden wrote for the plays of other writers from this period of time.

Volume II covers the poems of Dryden from 1682 to 1685. Together with volume one, the work forms the first part of the most informative and accessible edition of Dryden's poetry, providing an invaluable resource for students of Restoration culture.

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This is the final volume in The Works of John Dryden and the last volume of poetry written by Dryden before he died in 1700.