This study endeavours to offer a coherent explanation of the unity of Dryden's works from a thematic perspective. It attempts to show the way in which John Dryden (1631-1700) made use of the concept of enthusiasm in some of those poems which have established him as a major poet in the English language. Chapter I defines the term enthusiasm within the context of Restoration and eighteenth century philosophical, political and artistic thought, and the remaining chapters concentrate upon Dryden's response to enthusiasm. I have not discussed Dryden's translations for I have limited my study to his "original" verse, which, with the exception of his plays, has received the bulk of critical attention. Because the political, religious and artistic aspects of enthusiasm are the most important ones in Restoration thought as well as in Dryden's poems, I have examined those of his poems which emphasize one of these three facets in adjoining or separate chapters. This arrangement allows for a treatment of Dryden's works in a roughly chronological order since those poems which are chiefly concerned with political enthusiasm preceded those which deal with religious and artistic enthusiasm. Critics of Dryden's poems frequently mention the importance of enthusiasm in his works, particularly in Absalom and Achitophel in which divinely-appointed figures are besieged by a mob of frenzied republicans and religious fanatics. As I have tried to show, however, the concept of enthusiasm can be suitably applied to a number of poems which may at first appear to have no connection with the topic. Alexander's Feast, Religio Laici and particularly The Hind and the Panther express a concern with epthusiasm. It has sometimes been assumed that Dryden expresses only a negative opinion about enthusiasm, and, perhaps, this accounts for the critical assessment of Absalom and Achitophel from the perspective of enthusiasm by at least three critics: Ruth Wallerstein, Bruce King and Bernard Schilling. As a child of the Renaissance, as an artist and as a follower of rather anachronistic ideas, Dryden knew that enthusiasm did not have exclusively pejorative connotations, and his poems celebrate inspired figures, while, at the same time, they deprecate enthusiastic enemies of stable gover:r1ment, ecclesiastical authority and artistic prudence. Althouch there are few critical studies directly on this topic, I have noted the contribution of the critics who have been suggestive in this matter. This study attempts to modify the idea that Dryden's poems are defensive efforts written to condemn the destructive forces of enthusiasm which he saw in his society. It argues that in those poems in which Dryden made some of his strongest denunciations of enthusiasm, he still voiced his unqualified approval of truly-inspired figures including Charles II, the Catholic Church as represented by the Hind, the Christian artist, St. Cecilia and the poet himself. Even though Dryden's convictions changed during the last twenty-five years of his life, this struggle of an inspired figure against imprudent enthusiasts continued to dominate his verse. Close textual analysis of the poems establishes the pervasiveness of the topic in Dryden's work and joins the aesthetic aspects of his poems with the thematic. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thèse--Universit́e de Paris. / "Johannis Dryden operum tituli": p. [103]-106.

Thesis--Gothenburg University. / Bibliography: p. 227-234.

This thesis includes a study of common historical and biographical elements in the lives of Dryden and Byron, a comparison of the literary principles and achievements of Dryden and Byron, a study of the concept of the hero, and a comparison of the heroes of Dryden and Byron.

Inaug. Diss.--Bonn. / Vita. "Bibliographie": p. 6-9.

This thesis handles a number of passages in the poems of Dryden and Pope which show that both poets had been deeply impressed by <i>Paradise Lost</i>. These passages are so various and <i>numerous</i> (this is one of the principal claims to novelty of this thesis) that it is no longer possible to maintain that Milton was in different ways an isolated figure. Secondly, the effect on both poets of these passages they admired in <i>Paradise Lost</i> is such as to justify the claim that in important respects Milton <i>made</i> Dryden and Pope. The principal point of this thesis is to provide evidence suggesting that the implied verdict on <i>Paradise Lost</i> which emerges from Dryden's and Pope's manifold uses of the poem in producing their own poetry, is radically unlike any of the verdicts pronounced on <i>Paradise Lost</i> by the most gifted readers of poetry during the years from Wordsworth's death down to the present. In Dryden and Pope there was a common underlying estimate of the permanent worth of <i>Paradise Lost</i>. This finding entails an examination of the nature and development of the <i>divergent</i> tradition, which is traced back to a point in the middle years of the nineteenth century, and has been maintained without substantial addition or modification until recent times. However, the bulk of the thesis is not polemical. God, Man and Nature are the topics which principally stirred the two poets in their reading of <i>Paradise Lost</i>. Nevertheless, neither Dryden nor Pope separated their feelings for Milton's Nature from their feelings for Milton's Man and Milton's God. The nature found by Dryden and Pope was a nature crowned by human nature, but was invisible until they were confronted by the intermingling and interpenetration of the human and the divine. Common to Dryden and Pope was the conviction that <i>Paradise Lost</i> was a unique creation and unique above all because these three elements were so interrelated, and one could never be isolated without involving all the others. The whole question of what constitutes evidence of Dryden's and Pope's contact with <i>Paradise Lost</i> is examined in a separate appendix. Further appendices include lists of all the instances known to me.

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This dissertation analyzes Dryden's dramaturgical use of or reference to song, dance, and music as they contribute to plot, character, and setting in The Wild Gallant, Sir Martin Mar-All, The Tempest, An Evening's Love, Marriage A-la-Mode, The Assignation, The Mistaken Husband, The Kind Keeper, and Amphitryon. An appendix lists all songs printed out in these comedies.

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