John Dryden

King Arthur: Or, the British Worthy. a Dramatick Opera. As It is Now Acting at the Theatre Royal in Crow-street. by Mr. Dryden. John Dryden

Publisher Marketing: The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. The eighteenth-century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity followed the systematic excavation of the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy; and after 1750 a neoclassical style dominated all artistic fields. The titles here trace developments in mostly English-language works on painting, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, and other disciplines. Instructional works on musical instruments, catalogs of art objects, comic operas, and more are also included. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++Bodleian Library (Oxford)T180080Dublin: printed by James Hoey, for the Theatre Royal, 1763. 47, [1]p.; 12 Contributor Bio:  Dryden, John John Dryden (1631-1700) was an English poet, critic and dramatist, responsible for nearly 30 plays. He was noted both for his elegant comedies and his heroic verse dramas, which introduced the principles of French neoclassicism to England. Dryden turned to drama following the reopening of the theatres at the Restoration; his first attempt, the comedy "The Wild Gallant", was presented in 1663 at Drury Lane. The success of his heroic drama "The Indian Emperor" established him as a leading playwright. Following "Aureng-Zebe" (1675), perhaps his best heroic work, Dryden abandoned the use of rhyming couplets, producing the oft-revived blank-verse tragedy" All for Love" (a retelling of Shakespeare's" Antony and Cleopatra") in 1677. Dryden was the first to write drama criticism in an informal modern style and the first to attempt a history of English drama in his essay "Of Dramatick Poesie" (1668). He eventually tired of playwriting and his final plays, such as the tragicomedy" Love Triumphant "(1694), were written to relieve financial problems after his fortunes fell with the abdication of James II.