The extent in which Dryden
reformed our poetry, is most readily proved by an appeal to the ear; and
Dr. Johnson has forcibly stated, that "he knew how to choose the flowing
and the sonorous words; to vary the pauses and adjust the accents; to
diversify the cadence, and yet preserve the smoothness of the metre." To
vary the English hexameter, he established the use of the triplet and
Alexandrine. Though ridiculed by Swift, who vainly thought he had
exploded them for ever, their force is still acknowledged in classical
poetry.
Of the various kinds of poetry which Dryden occasionally practised, the
drama was that which, until the last six years of his life, he chiefly
relied on for support. His style of tragedy, we have seen, varied with
his improved taste, perhaps with the change of manners. Although the
heroic drama, as we have described it at length in the preceding pages,
presented the strongest temptation to the exercise of argumentative
poetry in sounding rhyme, Dryden was at length contented to abandon it
for the more pure and chaste style of tragedy, which professes rather
the representation of human beings, than the creation of ideal
perfection, or fantastic and anomalous characters. The best of Dryden's
performances in this latter style, are unquestionably "Don Sebastian,"
and "All for Love." Of these, the former is in the poet's very best
manner; exhibiting dramatic persons, consisting of such bold and
impetuous characters as he delighted to draw, well contrasted, forcibly
marked, and engaged in an interesting succession of events.
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