John Dryden

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/john-dryden

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was John Dryden born?August 9, 1631
2. When did John Dryden die?May 1, 1700 (age 68)
3. Where was John Dryden born?Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, England
4. What is the career?Poet Laureate, playwright, poet, translator, essayist, and literary critic
5. Who was John Dryden?John Dryden was a famous English writer from the 1600s who wrote poems, plays, and books about literature.
6. What is a Poet Laureate?A Poet Laureate is a special writer chosen by the king or queen to write poems for important events; Dryden became Poet Laureate in 1668.

Heroic Couplet: A pair of rhyming lines of verse, typically in iambic pentameter, widely used by Dryden for its clarity and narrative drive.
Neoclassicism: An artistic and literary movement that drew inspiration from the classical art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome.
Iambic Pentameter: A line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.