John Dryden

John Dryden (August 9 (?), 1631 - May 12 (?), 1700) was a influential English poet and playwright. He was born in Northamptonshire and educated at Westminster School and Trinity College. He was a professional writer throughout his life. His early plays, often heroic tragedy, met with highly variable success but served to promote his name and his Royalist sentiments. In 1663 he was married to Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Earl of Berkshire. He was also made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1663 and in 1668 he was made Poet laureate (until 1689). From the 1680s Dryden concentrated on poetry where his use of the rhymed couplet is considered brilliant, although he continued to write plays and composed several librettoes. In 1686 he converted to Catholicism. He also made some popular translations of Virgil's Aeneid and works by Horace, Ovid and Homer. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Noted works include: Astraea Redux (1660), The Indian Emperor (1665), Annus Mirabilis (1667), An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668), Tyrannick Love (1669), Marriage A-la-Mode (1672), The Conquest of Granada (1670), All for Love (1677), Absalom and Achitophel (1681), The Hind and the Panther (1687), Amphitryon (1690), Don Sebastian (1690).

His eldest son, Charles Dryden, became chamberlain to Pope Innocent XII.