John Dryden and Restoration War Poetry -Introduction

             John Dryden's War Poetry- 'Annus Mirabilis' part one

                                             Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons
                                             Portrait of John Dryden painted by James Maubert 1695

 
             John Dryden (1631- 1700) was a renowned  poet, satirist, dramatist, translator ,classical scholar,  and his contribution to war poetry needs to be highlighted.  Poet Laureate  from 1668-1688, Dryden was dismissed from the supposedly life time post for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to William and Mary.  Studying his influence  is a mammoth task indeed due to sheer volume of work produced. 

The great Dryden scholar James Anderson Winn maintains that Dryden 'painted history' and cites his epic poem 'Annus Mirabilis' to this effect about the events of 1665-1666.. Indeed, if one reads 'Annus Mirabilis' as a historical record, then problems emerge. It's almost like trying to learn  about the French Revolution and Napoleon's campaigns by studying the painting of David. And the notion of 'painting history' was a theme of Restoration poet Andrew Marvell's poems.

Looking at 'Annus Mirabilisi',Dryden seemed to be distancing himself from the apocalyptic influence of the Puritans. He tried to use poetry to transform English  setbacks incurred in the second Anglo-Dutch war to elevate the ideal of conflict between nations into something grander. Almost as if Dryden was trying to reproduce Norse saga several centuries later. And  Dryden tried to write about the great fire of London as some sort of heaven sent opportunity to rebuild a greater city.

At the time of 'Annus Mirabilis', Dryden was embodying everything that devotees of war poetry have rejected for the last ninety years, since post World War 1 'Disenchantment' became such a major cultural force from the late 1920's onward. It's always worth  remembering that  Dryden, being a major creative talent whose work spanned decades, changed his views over time. It's important not to 'trap'  him in 1666 -towards the end of his life he was a critic of Marlborough's continental wars and their Whig supporters.

'Annus Mirabilis'  sees little in the way of irony and satire. Classic motifs are used to embellish the poem. It is difficult to find an anti-war subtext to this poem of some 304 verses with 209 about the second Anglo- Dutch war. Dryden didn't go to war himself.  Yet  John Dryden helped to further the notion that contemporary war was a topic for poetry. He also used poetry to depict actual fighting at sea. He was not unique. A far lesser known poet Edmund Waller, was also writing about the Anglo-Dutch wars, whilst Andrew Marvell would parody both Dryden and Waller.


                           At first glance, John Dryden was a forerunner of the more imperialist trend of War at Sea Poetry, which was to peak at the end of the 19th century /early 20th , particularly favoured by the likes of  Captain Hopwood, and Sir Henry Newbolt. The sea is a tame element waiting to submit to the rule of Britain, and such a stance if the polar opposite of the Romantics, who largely viewed the Sea as embodying unrestrained freedom. Of course this notion is most embodied in 'Rule Britannia ' in the following a century, originally a poem written by James Thompson and David Malloch, set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740.

 Edmund Waller had already presented such a view in a poem in honour of Charles I-'To the King On His Navy' , written around 1636, and was to repeat this 'triumphalist'  approach during both the Commonwealth and the Restoration.

"Wher'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings
 Homage to thee, and to all she brings.
 The French and Spaniard, when thy flag appears
 Forget their hatred and consent to Fear. "


In the intermediate run-up to the First Anglo-Dutch War, fought under Cromwell's regime in 1652-53, the  Royal Navy had intercepted  Dutch ships, and confiscated French goods.The Navigation Act 1651 decreed that all imports to England and the colonies had to be conveyed in English ships or  ships belonging to their country of origin.   A strange parallel would emerge in World War 1 where the British naval blockade against Germany  would cause a great deal of resentment against neutral Dutch shipping. In the mid-seventeenth century the Dutch were in a position to resist, but the first war saw an English victory. One of the terms of the Treaty of Westminster was that Dutch ships using the Channel had to strike their colours to acknowledge British superiority.

Edmund Waller also wrote a poem in honour of Oliver Cromwell , as looked at an earlier post of this blog.

" A Panegyric To My Lord Protector, of the Present Greatness, And Joint Interest , of His Highness And This Nation' , which emphasised the Commonwealth superiority at sea.

(verse 3)

"Above the waves as Neptune show'd his face,
To chide the winds, and save the Trojan race,
So has your highness, raised above the rest,
Storms of ambition, tossing us, repress'd."



John Dryden had also written a poem in honour of Cromwell, and like Waller, had to swiftly changes his allegiance once Charles II was crowned. Dryden's poem dedicated to Charles II 'To His Sacred Majesty' , now seems even more toadying than Edmund Waller's poem above to Charles I  To The King On His Navy .

" Born to command the Mistress of the Seas
  Your thoughts themselves in the blue empire please.
Hither in Summer ev'nings to you repair
 To take the fraischeur of the purer air
Undaunted here you ride when Winter raves
With Ceasar's heart that rose above the waves ..."

(Lines 98-104)

('Farischeur' taking to mean 'Freshness' .)

The striking of the colours led to the Second Dutch War .

Dryden launched Annus Mirabilis with a preface  titled Versus to her Highness the Duchess. on the memorable Victory gain'd by the DUKE against the Hollanders, June the 3. 1665 and on Her Journey afterwards into the North. 

The DUKE in question is James Duke of York, brother to King Charles II, the victory concerns the Battle of Lowestoft . It is largely forgotten that James showed himself to be a courageous commander at sea. As the outstanding naval historian Andrew Lambert noted in his book 'Admirals'
"After the trauma of the Commonwealth, James more than anyone else, made the Royal Navy into a national institution,one that commanded universal support."


John Dryden's preface evokes a the Battle of Lowestoft as a heroic encounter

"That glorious day,which two such navies saw
 As each, unmatch'd, might to world give Law,
 Neptune,yet doubtful whom he should obey,
Held to the both the Trident of the Sea;
The winds were hush'd, the waves in ranks were cast
As awfully when God's people past...."

Edmund Waller also wrote about the Battle of Lowestoft in a poem titled Instructions to a Painter, for the Drawing of the Posture and Progress of His Majesty's Forces at Sea, under the Command of His Highness-Royal; together with the Battle and Victory obtained over the Dutch, June 3, 1665

" The Belgian ship unmoved, like some huge rock
Inhabiting the sea, expects the shock.
From both the fleets men's eyes are bent this way,
Neglecting all the business of the day;
Bullets their flight, and guns their noise suspend;
The silent ocean does th'event attend,
Which leader shall the doubtful victory bless,
And give an earnest of the war's success;
When Heaven itself, for England to declare,
Turns ship, and men, and tackle, into air."

( lines 177- 186 , note that 'Belgian' means the same as 'Dutch'  in this poem.)



Andrew Marvell took a scathing view of the notion that the sea could be so interested in the course of the battle . In his poem, The Second Advice to a Painter for drawing this History of our naval busyness. In Imitation of Mr.Waller . Strangely enough, his parody could equally apply to Dryden.

"By this time both the Fleets in reach debute
  And each the other mortally salute
Draw pensive Neptune biting of his Thumms
To think himself a Slave, whos'ere orecomes
The frightened nymphs retreating to the Rocks
Beating their blew Breasts, tearing their Locks,
Paint Echo slain;only the alternate Sound
From the repeating Cannon does rebound."

The ironic  motif of Neptune and his nymphs being terrified by a Dutch or English naval victory is an amusing  image. And John Dryden's notion that Neptune would even be concerned by the outcome of a sea battle is not particularly convincing.

The Romantic chaotic image of the sea is that this element is at best uninterested in the fate of humanity, at its worst , the sea is at best indifferent, at worst hostile.