John Dryden

Dryden in about 1668. The laurel leaves on the frame around him suggest that this painting may have been done to commemorate his being named Poet Laureate that year.

Dryden had a long and productive career that lasted for more than four decades. Its focus changed over time. His first published works were poetry, and he continued to write poetry throughout his life. Most of this was occasional poetry, written to mark, commemorate, or cases satirize a significant event. In the the 1670s and 80s much of his work was for the stage, as he had a contract to produce three plays a year for one of the London theater companies. Late in his career, he turned to translation, producing versions of Homer, Ovid, Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Virgil that in some cases were the standard texts for English readers for decades. When Dryden died in 1700, he was eulogized as the greatest English writer of the period.