illegitimate son, the Duke o f Monmouth, to seize the throne. In
1682 he wrote another literary satire “Mac Flecknoe”.
Dryden was a talented translator too. His translation o f Virgi I’s
“A eneid ”, published in 1697, was extrem ely popular. A s a
translator, he also rendered Juvenal, Ovid and Chaucer, and the
best o f his prose in the preface o f 1700 to the “Fables”, in which,
in the year o f his death, he introduced som e o f his translations to
the public. His range cannot be estimated without a consideration
o f his criticism and his plays in verse.
Q uestions and Tasks
1. What influence did ’ihe events o fth e beginning o fth e 17th
century make on M ilton’s literary activity.
2. In 1649 Milton was appointed Latin Secretary to the Council
o f state. What did il mean?
3. What can you tell about M ilton’s tragedy “Samson
A gonistes”?
4. “Paradise Lost” is an epic poem. Can you explain w hy it is
“epic”, and not “ lyric”?
5. Who are the main characters o f “Paradise Lost’?
6. Speak about M ilton’s humanism in his characterization o f
Adam and Eve.
7. What kind o f verses did John Dryden write?
8. What events did Dryden’s “Annus Mirabilis” commemorate?
ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE 18th CENTURY
(ENLIGHTENMENT IN ENGLAND)
G encral Background
The eighteenth-certury philosophical impulse known as ihe
Enlightenment rested on five general beliefs: the inevitability o f
progress; the perfectibility o f man and his institutions; the efficacy
o f reason; the b en eficen ce o f God; and the plentitude and
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