Ë öËÀ J MÀÐBlBlÐÎ ÎÐBlBlÐÎ ÎÐBlBlЂÚÚñ „„‚ñË öËÑÿÿ Mñ €ñË öË Ã**ÃƒÄ H@ÄË öËHayton „ ÿÑMilton's Influence on Dryden: A Bibliographic Survey of Criticism from 1968 to 1990 Ë öË ‚ÁÁThe literary practice of periodization has led to the common misconception that Milton and Dryden were radically different poets from distinct eras. Milton is set forth as the last of the Renaissance giants while Dryden is considered the uncontested leader of Restoration literature, a figure riding the wave of social, political, and literary change. But in actuality, Milton and Dryden were contemporary figures with an intimate knowledge of each other. Both poets worked in the office of the Latin Secretary during the Interregnum, both marched in Cromwell's funeral procession, and Dryden suggests some familiarity with the blind poet when he claims he was "extreme pleasant in his conversation, but Satyricall." Hence, the keen distinction between Milton and Dryden as writers, is more of a critical fiction than a reality. In part, this academic distancing of Milton and Dryden, and its consequent understatement of their literary relationship, is the cause of the current paucity of critical studies of their literary relationship. For the most part, neither Milton nor Dryden scholars have endeavored to examine the extent of Milton's influence on his junior contemporary. They have fallen prey to the convenience of easy division and broad generalization, and have ignored what may be one of the most important literary connections of the seventeenth©century. The majority of criticism that does exist on Milton's impact upon Dryden (for their is no evidence that Dryden exerted any influence upon Milton's poetry) has usually focused on Dryden's reworking of Paradise Lost as opera in his The State of Innocence. Dryden's rewriting of Milton's epic has generally met with approbation from critics who view it as a diminished version of Milton's treatment of the fall of man. These studies, as with most of the Milton©Dryden criticism of this century, are source studies which attempt to ascertain the internal logic for Dryden's alterations of Milton's poem. Few critics reflect upon how Dryden's changes to Paradise Lost reveal his response to Milton's poetry, and fewer still attempt to demonstrate how Dryden's reaction might carry over into his later works, especially his narrative poems. When considering the narrative poems, critics have painstakingly catalogued Dryden's allusions to Paradise Lost and analyzed the context which they are designed to imply. In other words, criticism of the past several decades has simply nodded its head at Dryden's incorporation of Milton's poetry into his poems and has generally failed to explore the poetic implications of Dryden's use and admiration of the Miltonic style. Furthermore, by focusing primarily on Dryden's adaptation of Paradise Lost modern critics have almost totally overlooked Dryden's use of Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. When Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes are invoked, critics only suggest vague contexts, but never examine their function in Dryden's later poems and drama. ŒThe general superficiality of Milton©Dryden criticism is in part the result of a lack of concrete biographical information about Milton and Dryden's personal relationship. Although the evidence is suggestive, little is known about Milton and Dryden's relationship outside of the fact that Dryden worked under Milton when he was Latin Secretary, that they marched together in Cromwell's funeral procession, and that Dryden visited Milton once to ask permission to write a rhymed operatic version of Paradise Lost. The rest remains conjecture. This unavailability of extra©literary evidence has deterred most critics from examining Milton's influence on Dryden, either positive or negative. Yet this need not be the case. Next to Chaucer and Shakespeare, more is known about Milton's unique style than any other poet. His characteristic enjambment and his preservation of Greek and Latin constructions make his poetry fairly easy to identify. Should these characteristics appear in Dryden's poetry, as they certainly do in The State of Innocence and Aureng©Zebe, it becomes necessary to explore the full extent of Milton's influence on Dryden's poetic vision. But very few critics have actually pursued this line of inquiry. The few critics that have attempted to determine the extent of Milton's influence on Dryden by charting his imitation and rejection of Milton's style have met with mixed success, however. Among the better critical efforts are Anne Davidson Ferry's Milton and the Miltonic Dryden and Earl Miner's "Dryden's Admired Acquaintance, Mr. Milton." Ferry's book attempts to identify the nature of Milton's influence on Dryden through close examination of the Miltonic echoes in Absalom and Achitophel and All for Love. Similarly, Miner strives to demonstrate how The State of Innocence and Dryden's narrative poems reveal Milton's influence on Dryden while Fables, Ancient and Modern represents his ultimate rejection of the Miltonic model. Ferry and Miner's research demonstrates that Dryden's later poetry appears to owe a great debt to Milton, nevertheless the exact nature of Dryden's indebtedness remains to be determined. Most critics who have aspired to follow Ferry and Miner's example (with the notable exception of George Williamson) have failed to delve deep enough into the issue. With the majority of criticism anchoring itself on The State of Innocence and the remainder examining Dryden's local allusions to Milton's poems, the big picture has been missed. What was Dryden's response to Milton's grand style? It is difficult to say from what has been written in the past several decades. What is clear is that Dryden admired Milton's poetry and, at times, imitated and alluded to it in his own poetry. What remains to be explored is how Dryden's perception of Milton's poetry affected his conception of poetry and how it changed his style (if it changed at all). Several avenues of inquiry immediately suggest themselves. The first and most important task which lays ahead of Milton and Dryden scholars is determining how the publication of Paradise Lost in 1667 altered Dryden's understanding of poetry. Considering that most of his major narrative poems appear after the publication of Milton's epic, it is quite likely that Paradise Lost exerted profound influence upon Dryden's poetic vision. Yet as noted above, scholars of the past few decades have contented themselves with identifying allusion rather than exploring how Milton's poetics potentially influenced Dryden's different, but equally classical, style. Dryden's high opinion of Milton's imitation of Homer and Virgil presents critics with another unexamined literary intersection between the two authors. Milton©Dryden criticism has left Dryden's translations completely untouched despite Dryden's belief that "no man had so happily copied the manner of Homer; or so copiously translated the Latin elegancies of Virgil" as Milton. An investigation into Milton's influence on Dryden's translations of Ovid, Juvenal, Persius, and Virgil could potentially reveal an underlying structure to Dryden's poetry that exposes his response to Milton. Perhaps the greatest failing of Milton©Dryden critics is their refusal to employ new critical methodologies. Earl Miner's The Restoration Mode from Milton to Dryden is the only extended consideration of the context of Milton and Dryden's poetic experience. Current critical practices in Milton©Dryden studies usually ignore the social nature of Milton and Dryden's poetry, but employing a New Historical methodology would provide a much needed investigation into the pressures exerted upon public poets of the latter seventeenth©century. Another aspect of the Milton©Dryden connection which could be illuminated by modern methodology is Dryden's confrontation with Milton's politically charged poetry. A detailed Bakhtinian analysis might uncover Dryden's responses to Milton's politics and potentially determine if Dryden's allusions to Miltonic contexts created a dialogue with Milton and the political ideology he represented. In other words, a Bakhtinian approach would have the ability to identify how (and if) Dryden's allusions to Milton's poetry represents a response to Milton's political position. That Dryden admired Milton, there is no doubt. As James Winn has noted, Dryden's criticism testifies that he recognized Milton as "an authentic genius." To what extent Dryden's recognition of Milton's genius affected his poetry remains for us to determine. The criticism of the past century has not succeeded in defining the boundaries of Milton's influence on Dryden because of its preoccupation with The State of Innocence and its refusal to adopt new methodologies. Perhaps the time has come for a change that could revolutionize the way we understand Dryden's poetry after 1667. AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MILTON AND DRYDEN CRITICISM ÁÁ ”Biographies •ŒWinn, James. John Dryden and His World. New Haven: Yale UP, 1987. À J BÀñHñÌ ÌÌ ÌThe authoritive biography of John Dryden. An exhaustive account of Dryden's life. Discusses all of Milton and Dryden's known literary and extra©literary interactions. Þ BÞ À J GÀ” Books • Ferry, Anne Davidson. Milton and the Miltonic Dryden. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UP, 1968. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌCurrently the best book©length study of Milton and Dryden's literary affiliations. Examines Dryden's use of Miltonic contexts in "his two most successful works, Absalom and Achitophel and All for Love." Discusses Dryden's allusion to, parody and imitation of Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes.Þ BÞ À J GÀ Miner, Earl. The Restoration Mode from Milton to Dryden. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton UP, 1974. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌOstensibly a study of the self©consciously public mode of writing developed during between 1640 and 1700. Focuses primarily on Milton and Dryden as examples of the "public mode" arguing that they differ only "among voices of the same kind." Claims that "modes" of writing develop from similar perceptions of authors in a period. Concerned more with the socio©literary construction of Milton and Dryden's similar poetic subject matter and style than with one poet's immediate impact upon the other.Þ BÞ À J GÀ ”Articles • Frost, William. "Aureng©Zebe in Context: Dryden, Shakespeare, Milton, and Racine." In John Dryden: Dramatist, Satirist, Translator. New York: AMS Press, 1988. 15ª40. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌDiscusses the plays borrowings from King Lear, Samson Agonistes, and Mithridate. Suggests Dryden was profoundly influenced by these plays concerns, but retained its own peculiar nature in its focus on "the nature of kingship."Þ BÞ À J GÀ Gagen, Jean. "Anomalies in Eden: Adam and Eve in Dryden's The State of Innocence." Milton's Legacy in the Arts. Eds. Albert Labriola and Edward Sichi. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 1988. 135©150. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌA detailed examination of Dryden's characterization of Eve in The State of Innocence. Claims Dryden juxtaposed Milton's idea of Eve's "rightful submission" with a more active and powerful concept of Eve as courtly lover. Agues that the concept of Adam and Eve's mutual sovereignty demonstrated in State of Innocence reflects Dryden's personal views on the ideal relationship. Þ BÞ Ì ÌÌ ÌÞ BÞ À J GÀGransden, K. W. "Milton, Dryden, and the Comedy of the Fall." Essays in Criticism 26 (1976): 116©133. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌAsseÞ BÞ À J GÀrts that the positive outcome of mankind's fall, i.e.. his ultimate redemption, requires a comic reading of Paradise Lost. Argues that Dryden's sometimes distasteful alterations of his source in The State of Innocence are in fact an identification and magnification Milton's comic tone. Griffin, Dustin. "Dryden." In Regaining Paradise: Milton and the Eighteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1986. 137©54. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌDefines Dryden's literary relationship with Milton as both an inheritance and a rivalry. Claims that Milton was rarely central in Dryden's art, but he created a poetic context that Dryden both employed and rejected. The State of Innocence was Dryden's opportunity to "make creative application of his critical objections to Paradise Lost." Þ BÞ À J GÀ ©©©. "The Beginnings of Modern Authorship: Milton and Dryden." Milton Quarterly 24 (1990): 1©7. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌDebunks the conception of Milton as "the last Renaissance giant" and Dryden as "the man of the new day" by exploring their similar responses to the development of print culture in England. Argues that Milton and Dryden were professional writers who responded to the shift from a court©based to a marketplace©based literature by developing strong ties with both booksellers and literary patrons.Þ BÞ À J GÀ Jefferson, D. W. "Dryden's Style in The State of Innocence." Essays in Criticism 32 (1982): 361©68. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌA superficial reading of Dryden's comic reduction of Milton's Adam, Eve, and Satan in The State of Innocence. Jefferson argues that Dryden "takes pleasure in exploiting opportunities to introduce his own imaginative flourishes of wit into contexts where they might not seem appropriate." The parody of Milton's characters in The State of Innocence reflects "the incongruities within his personality, which he indulges with considerable skill."Þ BÞ À J GÀ Keener, Frederick M. "Pope, Dryden, Milton and the Poets Secret." ELH 56 (1989): 81©96. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌAn interesting article on the intertexuality of Dryden's MacFlecknoe and Absalom and Achitophel, Pope's Dunciad, and Milton's Paradise Lost. Claims that Dryden and Pope anticipated Balachandra Rajan's identification of Satan, Sin, and Death as a parodic infernal trinity. Keener carefully examines Dryden and Pope's borrowings, parodies, and reactions to Milton's use of holy and infernal trinities in Paradise Lost. Primarily concerned with Pope. Þ BÞ À J GÀ Miner, Earl. "Dryden's Admired Acquaintance, Mr. Milton." Milton Studies 11 (1978): 3©27. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌExamines what is known or can be inferred about Milton and Dryden's literary relationship. Asserts that Dryden alluded to Paradise Lost as he would a classic. Claims that unlike many of Milton's other "literary sons," Dryden does not fail to achieve greatness because he ultimately puts the Miltonic model behind him. Þ BÞ À J GÀOgden, James. "Milton's Ideal of Innocence." Critical Quarterly 24:4 (1982): 17©23. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌAn undÞ BÞ À J GÀeveloped and occasionally obtuse examination of Dryden's subversion of the Miltonic motifs of coyness, vanity, and nakedness. Ogden argues that Dryden redefines Milton's conception of innocence by emphasizing elements of human nature which Milton would associate with postlapsarian man. Dryden's "innocence" was therefore a reflection of his milieu's understanding of innocence instead of a Miltonic echoing of biblical themes. Williamson, George. "Dryden's View of Milton." In Milton and Others. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1970. 103©121. À J BÀÌ ÌÌ ÌSuggests that Dryden departures from Milton's presentation of the fall in The State of Innocence departures result from his criticism that Milton's subject "is not that of an heroic poem, properly so called." Examines the generic considerations of Milton and Dryden's version of the fall of man and claims that Dryden's alteration of Milton's epic closely resemble Milton's early plans for Adam Unparadiz'd in the Cambridge Manuscript. Þ BÞ À J GÀË öË