Fables, Ancient and Modern
Encyclopedia
Fables, Ancient and Modern was a collection of translations of classical and medieval poetry by John Dryden
interspersed with some of Dryden’s own works. Published in March, 1700, it was his last and also one of his greatest works. Dryden died two months later.
in 1688, Dryden turned to translation to provide himself with a steady income. Dryden’s education at the Westminster School
had provided him with an excellent grounding in translation, which was a conventional exercise at the time.
Fables, Ancient and Modern contains translations of the First Book of Homer's
Iliad
, eight selections from Ovid's
Metamorphoses
, three of Geoffrey Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales (and an imitation from the Prologue on "The Character of a Good Parson"), the later medieval poem The Flower and the Leaf
, which he thought was by Chaucer, and three stories from Boccacio. The volume also contains a number of Dryden's own works, including "Alexander’s Feast" and an impressive preface in which he lauds Chaucer, calling him “the Father of English poetry”. All the translations are in his characteristic heroic couplet
, which uses alexandrines and triplets to vary the movement.
Dryden aimed to increase the English people’s literary reputation by appropriating the greatest traditions in literature and developing them into new genres. The English public were eager recipients of his translations, and saw them as connecting English literature with the great works of the past. The Fables were greatly admired throughout the 18th century, and their form and versification were imitated by John Keats
in "Lamia."
An interesting feature of the preface is that Dryden did not understand Chaucer's Middle English
prosody and dismissed his versification as irregular, because Middle English pronunciation was not properly understood at the time. In fact, since Dryden was working with Speght's extremely corrupt edition of Chaucer (printed overleaf from the translations in the California edition), and "The Flower and the Leaf" is prosodically unlike the poems by Chaucer, he couldn't possibly have scanned Chaucer even if he had assigned the correct Middle English values.
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
interspersed with some of Dryden’s own works. Published in March, 1700, it was his last and also one of his greatest works. Dryden died two months later.
Background
After the deposition of his patron James IIJames II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
in 1688, Dryden turned to translation to provide himself with a steady income. Dryden’s education at the Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
had provided him with an excellent grounding in translation, which was a conventional exercise at the time.
Fables, Ancient and Modern contains translations of the First Book of Homer's
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, eight selections from Ovid's
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses (poem)
Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by the Roman poet Ovid describing the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Completed in AD 8, it is recognized as a masterpiece of Golden Age Latin literature...
, three of Geoffrey Chaucer’s
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
Canterbury Tales (and an imitation from the Prologue on "The Character of a Good Parson"), the later medieval poem The Flower and the Leaf
The Floure and the Leafe
"The Floure and the Leafe", is an anonymous Middle English allegorical poem in 595 lines of rhyme royal, written around 1470. During the 17th, 18th, and most of the 19th century it was mistakenly believed to be the work of Geoffrey Chaucer, and was generally considered to be one of his finest poems...
, which he thought was by Chaucer, and three stories from Boccacio. The volume also contains a number of Dryden's own works, including "Alexander’s Feast" and an impressive preface in which he lauds Chaucer, calling him “the Father of English poetry”. All the translations are in his characteristic heroic couplet
Heroic couplet
A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used for epic and narrative poetry; it refers to poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines. The rhyme is always masculine. Use of the heroic couplet was first pioneered by Geoffrey Chaucer in...
, which uses alexandrines and triplets to vary the movement.
Dryden aimed to increase the English people’s literary reputation by appropriating the greatest traditions in literature and developing them into new genres. The English public were eager recipients of his translations, and saw them as connecting English literature with the great works of the past. The Fables were greatly admired throughout the 18th century, and their form and versification were imitated by John Keats
John Keats
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. Along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, he was one of the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, despite the fact that his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.Although his poems were not...
in "Lamia."
An interesting feature of the preface is that Dryden did not understand Chaucer's Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
prosody and dismissed his versification as irregular, because Middle English pronunciation was not properly understood at the time. In fact, since Dryden was working with Speght's extremely corrupt edition of Chaucer (printed overleaf from the translations in the California edition), and "The Flower and the Leaf" is prosodically unlike the poems by Chaucer, he couldn't possibly have scanned Chaucer even if he had assigned the correct Middle English values.