 | All for Love : Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics) Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price Antony and Octavius Caesar are struggling for control of what was to become the Roman Empire. Antony and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, are lovers and political allies, but their forces have been defeated at the battle of Actium. The play is set in Alexandria, under siege by Octavius Caesar. This edition in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is edited and introduced by Trevor R. Griffiths. Born August 9, 1631 into a wealthy Puritan family, John Dryden received an excellent education at Westminster School and Cambridge University. After a brief period in government, he turned his attention almost entirely to writing. Dryden was one of the first English writers to make his living strictly by writing, but this meant he had to cater to popular taste. His long career was astonishingly varied, and he turned his exceptional talents to almost all literary forms. Dryden dominated the entire Restoration period as a poet, playwright, and all-round man of letters. He was the third poet laureate of England. In his old age Dryden was virtually a literary "dictator" in England, with an immense influence on eighteenth-century poetry. His verse form and his brilliant satires became models for other poets, but they could rarely equal his standard. Dryden was also a master of "occasional" poetry - verse written for a specific person or special occasion. Like most poets of his time, Dryden saw poetry as a way of expressing ideas rather than emotions, which makes his poetry seem cool and impersonal to some modern readers. Dryden also wrote numerous plays that helped him make him one of the leading figures in the Restoration theatre. Today, however he is admired more for his influence on other writers than for his own works. He died on April 30, 1700 in London. (Bowker Author Biography) |
