ABSTRACT

This chapter talks about poems of John Dryden such as Annus Mirabilis, Heroic Stanzas and Absalom and Achitophel. Dryden explained his poem at the annual Act in University of Oxford, July 1676. The notes to Dryden's prologues provide an insight into the theatrical world of the Restoration, and include quotations from manuscript sources to reveal alterations which were made between performances. The chapter also reviews Thomas Baker's transcript of Dryden's 'Carmen Lapidarium', in Cambridge University Library. The form of the Carmen lapidarium, which is a non-metrical prose poem, was used for inscriptions on tombs and in volumes of memorial verses. Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666 was licensed by L'Estrange on 22 November 1666 and published by Herringman early in 1667. The first edition of Absalom and Achitophel carried no commendatory poems. The second London edition in folio included unsigned poems which were later attributed to Nathaniel Lee and Richard Duke.