Aureng-Zebe: A Tragedy
By John Dryden
()
About this ebook
John Dryden was born on August 9th, 1631 in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire. As a boy Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar. Dryden obtained his BA in 1654, graduating top of the list for Trinity College, Cambridge that year. Returning to London during The Protectorate, Dryden now obtained work with Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe. At Cromwell's funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden was in the company of the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell. The setting was to be a sea change in English history. From Republic to Monarchy and from one set of lauded poets to what would soon become the Age of Dryden. The start began later that year when Dryden published the first of his great poems, Heroic Stanzas (1658), a eulogy on Cromwell's death. With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 Dryden celebrated in verse with Astraea Redux, an authentic royalist panegyric. With the re-opening of the theatres after the Puritan ban, Dryden began to also write plays. His first play, The Wild Gallant, appeared in 1663 but was not successful. From 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company, in which he became a shareholder. During the 1660s and '70s, theatrical writing was his main source of income. In 1667, he published Annus Mirabilis, a lengthy historical poem which described the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It established him as the pre-eminent poet of his generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts of Poet Laureate (1668) and then historiographer royal (1670). This was truly the Age of Dryden, he was the foremost English Literary figure in Poetry, Plays, translations and other forms. In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by subscription. It was a national event. John Dryden died on May 12th, 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.
John Dryden
John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who was made England's first Poet Laureate in 1668. Vinton A. Dearing was Professor of English and Computer Applications in Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. Alan Roper is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Read more from John Dryden
Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbsalom and Achitophel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of St Francis Xavier, of the Society of Jesus, Apostle of the Indies, and of Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlmanazor and Almahide - Volume 1: or, The Conquest of Granada. The First Part Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hind & The Panther: “Beware the fury of a patient man.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnnus Mirabilis; The Year of Wonders, 1666: An Historical Poem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarriage A La Mode: “Better shun the bait, than struggle in the snare. ” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHalloween, A Theme In Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aeneid by Virgil: Translated by John Dryden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All For Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll for Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLimberham: or, The Kind Keeper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll for Love Or, the World Well Lost A Tragedy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dryden's Works Vol. 3 (of 18) Sir Martin Mar-All; The Tempest; An Evening's Love; Tyrannic Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrefaces and Prologues to Famous Books with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annus Mirabilis - The Year of Wonders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 2 With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlmanazor and Almahide - Volume 2: or, The Conquest of Granada. The Second Part Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOedipus: A Tragedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indian Emperor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe AeneidEnglish Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Palamon and Arcite: 'I pass their warlike pomp, their proud array'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbsalom & Achitophel: “Great wits are to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Aureng-Zebe
Related ebooks
The Indian Emperor: "Boldness is a mask for fear, however great." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplete Works of Robert Southey (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Old English Baron: a Gothic Story Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Anything for a Quiet Life: "For the subtlest folly proceeds from the subtlest wisdom" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFinding the Figure in the Carpet: Vision and Silence in the Works of Henry James Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Temple of Glass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNote-Book of Anton Chekhov Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The White Devil: "Man is most happy, when his own actions are arguments and examples of his virtue" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVolpone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPicture and Text Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTragedies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSonnets from the Portuguese Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manfred Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssential Novelists - Samuel Richardson: invention of the epistolary novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Chaucer to Tennyson With Twenty-Nine Portraits and Selections from Thirty Authors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oresteia Trilogy (Unabridged English Translation) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho's The Dupe?: "It requires genius to make a good pun - some men of bright parts can't reach it" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Symbolist Movement in Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe English Humourists: "A good laugh is sunshine in the house." Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Entire Original Maupassant Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUndine: With an Introduction by S. C. Cronwright-Schreiner Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of Thomas Gray: “Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.” Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Night and Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Doll's House Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Paradise Regained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madman - His Parables & Poems (With Original Illustrations) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelphi Complete Works of Richard Crashaw (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrlando Furioso (Volume II, Cantos 25-46) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Performing Arts For You
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Agatha Christie Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAngels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Woman Is No Man: A Read with Jenna Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Your Huckleberry: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Aureng-Zebe
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Aureng-Zebe - John Dryden
Aureng-Zebe by John Dryden
A TRAGEDY.
—Sed, cum fregit subsellia versu,
Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven.
JUV.
John Dryden was born on August 9th, 1631 in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire. As a boy Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King's Scholar.
Dryden obtained his BA in 1654, graduating top of the list for Trinity College, Cambridge that year.
Returning to London during The Protectorate, Dryden now obtained work with Cromwell's Secretary of State, John Thurloe.
At Cromwell's funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden was in the company of the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell. The setting was to be a sea change in English history. From Republic to Monarchy and from one set of lauded poets to what would soon become the Age of Dryden.
The start began later that year when Dryden published the first of his great poems, Heroic Stanzas (1658), a eulogy on Cromwell's death.
With the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 Dryden celebrated in verse with Astraea Redux, an authentic royalist panegyric.
With the re-opening of the theatres after the Puritan ban, Dryden began to also write plays. His first play, The Wild Gallant, appeared in 1663 but was not successful. From 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company, in which he became a shareholder. During the 1660s and '70s, theatrical writing was his main source of income.
In 1667, he published Annus Mirabilis, a lengthy historical poem which described the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London in 1666. It established him as the pre-eminent poet of his generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts of Poet Laureate (1668) and then historiographer royal (1670).
This was truly the Age of Dryden, he was the foremost English Literary figure in Poetry, Plays, translations and other forms.
In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by subscription. It was a national event.
John Dryden died on May 12th, 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.
Index of Contents
AURENG-ZEBE. AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN, EARL OF MULGRAVE, GENTLEMAN OF HIS MAJESTY'S BED-CHAMBER, AND KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER PROLOGUE
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
SCENE—Agra, in the year 1660.
AURENG-ZEBE.
ACT I
SCENE I
ACT II
SCENE I
ACT III
SCENE I
ACT IV
SCENE I
ACT V
SCENE I
EPILOGUE
John Dryden – A Short Biography
John Dryden – A Concise Bibliography
AURENG-ZEBE. AN INTRODUCTION
Aureng-Zebe,
or the Ornament of the Throne, for such is the interpretation of his name, was the last descendant of Timur, who enjoyed the plenitude of authority originally vested in the Emperor of India. His father, Sha-Jehan, had four sons, to each of whom he delegated the command of a province. Dara-Sha, the eldest, superintended the district of Delhi, and remained near his father's person; Sultan-Sujah was governor of Bengal, Aureng-Zebe of the Decan, and Morat Bakshi of Guzerat. It happened, that Sha-Jehan being exhausted by the excesses of the Haram, a report of his death became current in the provinces, and proved the signal for insurrection and discord among his children. Morat Bakshi possessed himself of Surat, after a long siege, and Sultan-Sujah, having declared himself independent in Bengal, advanced as far as Lahor, with a large army. Dara-Sha, the legitimate successor of the crown, was the only son of Sha-Jehan, who preferred filial duty to the prospect of aggrandisement. He dispatched an army against Sultan-Sujah, checked his progress, and compelled him to retreat. But Aureng-Zebe, the third and most wily of the brethren, had united his forces to those of Morat Bakshi, and advancing against Dara-Sha, totally defeated him, and dissipated his army. Aureng-Zebe availed himself of the military reputation and treasures, acquired by his success, to seduce the forces of Morat Bakshi, whom he had pretended to assist, and, seizing upon his person at a banquet, imprisoned him in a strong fortress. Meanwhile, he advanced towards Agra, where his father had sought refuge, still affecting to believe that the old emperor was dead. The more pains Sha-Jehan took to contradict this report, the more obstinate was Aureng-Zebe in refusing to believe that he was still alive. And, although the emperor dispatched his most confidential servants to assure his dutiful son that he was yet in being, the incredulity of Aureng-Zebe could only be removed by a personal interview, the issue of which was Sha-Jehan's imprisonment and speedy death. During these transactions Dara-Sha, who, after his defeat, had fled with his treasures to Lahor, again assembled an army, and advanced against the conqueror; but, being deserted by his allies, defeated by Aureng-Zebe, and betrayed by an Omrah, whom he trusted in his flight, he was delivered up to his brother, and by his command assassinated. Aureng-Zebe now assumed the throne, and advanced against Sultan-Sujah, his sole remaining brother; he seduced his chief commanders, routed the forces who remained faithful, and drove him out of Bengal into the Pagan countries adjacent, where, after several adventures, he perished miserably in the mountains. Aureng-Zebe also murdered one or two nephews, and a few other near relations; but, in expiation of his complicated crimes, renounced the use of flesh, fish, and wine, living only upon barley-bread vegetables, and confections, although scrupling no excesses by which he could extend and strengthen his usurped power[1].
Dr Johnson has supposed, that, in assuming for his subject a living prince, Dryden incurred some risque; as, should Aureng-Zebe have learned and resented the freedom, our Indian trade was exposed to the consequences of his displeasure. It may, however, be safely doubted, whether a monarch, who had actually performed the achievements above narrated, would have been scandalized by those imputed to him in the text. In other respects, the distance and obscurity of the events gave a poet the same authority over them, as if they had occurred in the annals of past ages; a circumstance in which Dryden's age widely differed from ours, when so much has our intimacy increased with the Oriental world, that the transactions of Delhi are almost as familiar to us as those of Paris.
The tragedy of Aureng-Zebe
is introduced by the poet's declaration in the prologue, that his taste for heroic plays was now upon the wane:
But he has now another taste of wit;
And, to confess a truth, though out of time,
Grows weary of his long-loved mistress, Rhyme.
Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound,
And nature flies him, like enchanted ground,
What verse can do, he has performed in this,
Which he presumes the most correct of his.
Agreeably to what might be expected from this declaration, the verse used in Aureng-Zebe
is of that kind which may be most easily applied to the purposes of ordinary dialogue. There is much less of ornate structure and emphatic swell, than occurs in the speeches of Almanzor and Maximin; and Dryden, though late, seems to have at length discovered, that the language of true passion is inconsistent with that regular modulation, to maintain which, the actor must mouth each couplet in a sort of recitative. The ease of the verse in Aureng-Zebe,
although managed with infinite address, did not escape censure. In the just remonstrance of affronted That,
transmitted to the Spectator, the offended conjunction is made to plead, What great advantage was I of to Mr Dryden, in his
Indian Emperor?"
You force me still to answer you in that,
To furnish out a rhime to Morat.
And what a poor figure would Mr Bayes have made, without his Egad, and all that? But, by means of this easy flow of versification in which the rhime is sometimes almost lost by the pause being transferred to the middle of the line, Dryden, in some measure indemnified himself for his confinement, and, at least, muffled the clank of his fetters. Still, however, neither the kind of verse, nor perhaps the poet, himself, were formed for expressing rapid and ardent dialogue; and the beauties of
Aureng-Zebe" will be found chiefly to consist in strains of didactic morality, or solemn meditation. The passage, descriptive of life, has been distinguished by all the critics, down to Dr Johnson:
AURENG-ZEBE
When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat;
Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:
To-morrow's falser than the former day;
Lies worse; and, while it says, We shall be blest
With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give.
I'm tired with waiting for this chemic gold,
Which fools us young, and beggars us when old.
Nor is the answer of Nourmahal inferior in beauty:
NOURMAHAL
'Tis not for nothing that we life pursue;
It pays our hopes with something still that's new;
Each day's a mistress, unenjoyed before;
Like travellers, we're pleased with seeing more.
Did you but know what joys your way attend,
You would not hurry to your journey's end.
It might be difficult to point out a passage in English poetry, in which so common and melancholy a truth is expressed in such beautiful verse, varied with such just illustration. The declamation on virtue, also, has great merit, though, perhaps, not equal to that on the vanity of life:
AURENG-ZEBE
How vain is virtue, which directs our ways
Through certain danger to uncertain praise!
Barren, and airy name! thee fortune flies,
With thy lean train, the pious and the wise.
Heaven takes thee at thy word, without regard;
And let's thee poorly be thy own reward.
The world is made for the bold impious man,
Who stops at nothing, seizes all he can.
Justice to merit does weak