John Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern

Jena Trammell (Anderson University)
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John Dryden's last, and one of his finest, literary achievements was a collection of new translations of classical and medieval poetry, published together with some of his own original poems and a preface considered to be one of his most important critical essays. This volume, entitled

Fables, Ancient and Modern

, was published in 1700 to the acclaim of Dryden's English contemporaries. Dryden had already translated classical poetry by authors like Ovid and Juvenal in the 1680s, and he turned to translating again in the early 1690s to provide himself with a source of income as his dramatic success declined. Literary translation from the Greek and Latin poets was a conventional exercise, but Dryden's genius for poetry enabled him to create superlative new editions of the ancient works. In…

908 words

Citation: Trammell, Jena. "Fables Ancient and Modern". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 February 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5233, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5233 Fables Ancient and Modern 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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