Two months before he died, Dryden published a collection of verse translations and original poetry, Fables Ancient and Modern, the work for which he was most admired throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cedric Reverand argues that Fables, which has for the most part escaped modern scrutiny, embodies a purposeful, subversive strategy, and constitutes a new poetic mode that emerged when the laureate, public spokesman for king and country, lost his official post and became an outcast, a minority voice.
In Dryden's Final Poetic Mode, Reverand focuses...
Two months before he died, Dryden published a collection of verse translations and original poetry, Fables Ancient and Modern, the work for ...