John Dryden's poem Shadwell-an analysis

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:15]of director general higher education haryana for undergraduate science classes today we shall study john dryden's poem shared well let's first know the background and the circumstances under which this poem was written shadwell which forms the title of our poem is the name of a 17th century poet john dryden who wrote this poem was his contemporary and the two poets had some personal diffu dispute which took shape of bitter rivalry with passage of time dryden and shadwell belonged to different political parties and opposite religious groups dryden was a tory and catholic while shadwell was a wig and protestant difference of political affiliation resulted in difference of ideologies and finally in literary rivalry if one wrote a biting poem against the other the other always return in the same coin in this way revalry and bitterness existed lifelong anyhow before we go deeper into this rivalry let's know something about the poet john dryden who wrote the present poem shadwell john dryden was born in 1631 and lived up to 1700 he was the eldest of 14 children born to erasmus dryden and his wife mary pickering he was an english poet critic translator and playwright all in one he was a respected figure of the restoration period and was raised to be england's first poet laureate in 1668 along with alexander pope he dominated the restoration period or you can say neoclassical period dryden's work includes epsilon and ketophil the medal mac flacknow the present poem schedule which is prescribed in our syllabus is a part of this poem matt flacknow is a very long poem and shadwell some lines one incident has been taken from this larger poem apart from this a song for saint cecilia's day and alexander's feast these are some other works written by john dryden now let's read the poem line by line shadwell written by john dryden all human things are subject to decay and when fate summons monarchs must obey all human things john ryden says all human things are subject to decay he tells us a philosophical truth that we all are to die like lord krishna telling arjuna it means when death calls even kings cannot refuse monarchs kings have to obey here fate appears with a capital letter look at uh in the second line the third word fate fate with the capital letter y faith comes with a capital letter because fate has been personified here what do we mean by personified it means when we treat an inanimate thing or abstract idea as human beings we call it personification for example if i say the flower smiles a flower cannot smile a flower cannot smile smiling is a characteristics of human beings only even animals cannot smile i say the flower smiles i personify a flower the feature of human being which is a characteristics of human beings only i give it to the flower it means personification now all human things are subject to decay and when fate summons monarchs must obey all human things all guidan could have written all human beings politically that would have been right but he deliberately writes the word things why it is interesting because because for dryden shadwell does not belong to the category of human beings rather he is a thing see she's shadwell is fat and brainless according to dryden and he is nothing less than a thing that is why he sees all human things beginning is very interesting because dryden begins the poem with a philosophical truth that death is inevitable it is an ethical opening where universal truth begins the poem fate has been personified and human beings especially shadwell has been equaled with things now let's let's move to the next couple of lines this flak no found who like augustus young was called to empire and had gwerned long this flag no found means flag know the emperor who was liking augustus became an emperor when he was very young and he warned his kingdom for a long time here shadwell's comparison with augustus is ironic this flak now this flag now sounds disgusting as if dryden doesn't like flacknow he uses the the phrase this flag know this flag now found who like augustus young was called to empire and had gone long comparison between augustus and flag now why is it ironic comparison is at two levels the first one is the two emperors mack flacknell and augustus they became kings when they were very young second thing is second comparison is augustus was a very powerful king and he had no rival no equal in power in more heroic terms shadwell 2 has been called unmatched a king with no rival a poet with no equal to him so far as his stupidity is concerned this is in more heroic terms that dryden compares the two augustus was a roman emperor it is said that flacknow was also a poetraster p-o-e-t a-s-t-e-r poetaster what is a poetaster poetaster is an unskilled poet who does not have poetic qualities still he attempts attempts to write poetry and this flag know he was a poet astro of 17th century ireland known for his dullness and stupidity so shadwell in shadwell dryden in these lines compares flag no to augustus if he compares then certainly it is a simile and he makes an ironic comparison the two kings they came to their kingdom very early and guard their kingdom for a long time more heroic tone is there more character on i mean it is a satirical tone prose and verse was owned without dispute through all the violence of nonsense absolute this aged prince now flourishing in peace and blessed with issue of of allah's increase increase yes this word is increase not increase it is not the sound it is so sound similarly in decrease it is not decrease it is decreased in prose and verse was owned without dispute mcflackner was a champion in dullness and stupidity i don't say dryden says matt flackner was a champion in dullness and stupidity he was thought to be undisputed emperor of the kingdom of nonsense while mack flackner was ruling his empire successfully he was blessed with a large number of sons in prose and verse was owned without dispute through all the realms of nonsense absolute in every field the king flacknow was was without dispute the best in all the realms of nonsense absolute in nonsense and stupidity he was a perfect person what dryden's dryden calls him in in the next line the aged prince mismatched can a prince be aged no cannot be this aged prince because he wants to make fun of the king matt flack now that's why he says is the prince just like that aged prince that he is aged still he considers himself very young perhaps this is what uh brighton means here the aged prince now flourishing in peace flourishing means progressing it was a peaceful time and the king was flourishing he was blessed with a large number of children and blessed with the issue of a large increase what dryden points out here is that he was a king of nonsense and like a fool produced a large number of children means followers like himself shadwell like himself he made many many more poets of his own quality here the tone is satirical and again if you look at the lines then dispute absolute this is one couple and peace increase this is another couple the whole poem has been written in couplets the two lines two conjunctive lines will rhyme together and this is heroic couplet with a little variation in a few cases apart from that all lines are iambic pentameter lines the poet tries to make fun of shadwell calls him eased prince flackner indirectly to shadwell and satirical tone is visible here worn out with business did at length debate to settle the succession of the state because of his busy business of producing children or of ruling the kingdom of nonsense he was worn out he was tired worn out with business did at length debate to settle the succession of the state at length means in detail debate means argue now he begin to argue with himself in detail how to choose his successor and pondering which of his sons was fit to reign and weighs immortal war with wit he pondered over he thought deeply pondered means thought deeply which of his sons was fit to rule his kingdom reign means to rule r e i g n this word is pronounced as rain it is a homophone of the word r a i n just comment rain homophone homo means same phone means sound homophones means similar sounds words pronounced similarly but with different spelling and meaning they are called homophones okay which of all his sons was fit to reign the way rain and ways immortal war with wit he tries to find out which one of his sons was the greatest enemy of wisdom who could waste permanent war with wit means which of his sons was a fool and who could fight with wisdom here in these lines background has been taken from historical fact may i tell you in england there was a dispute over the issue of succession in dryden's day background has been taken from that historical fact and these lines where the king is tired of producing children and of ruling his kingdom of nonsense here is a satire a comic situation is created here cried its resolved for nature pleads that he should only rule who most resembles me now he argues with himself finally he reaches the conclusion when he reaches a conclusion when he reaches the destination he cries out of happiness dryden says he cried cried he is missing and he is cried it's resolved for nature pleads that he should only rule who most resembles me it is ludicrous when when he reaches the destination he cries it's comic why why does he cry look at the use of this word cried when one reaches a destination after long thought does he cry anyhow he cried it's resolved solution has been found out he argues that according to the law of nature nature pleads according to law of nature the son who resembles him most should only rule who most resembles me the son who resembles him most who takes after him should rule his kingdom he says one who is like me in physical appearance he should rule my state my state of my kingdom of nonsense shadwell alone my perfect image bears mature in dullness from his tender years shadwell alone of all my sons is he who stands confirmed in full stupidity the king argues and gives reasons for his selection selection of the successor he asserts shared well alone my perfect image bears what does it mean it means shadwell exactly looks like him he takes after him physically he appears to be similar to him and it is again shared well who is mature in dullness right from his early age and above all it is shared well who stands confirmed in stupidity these three qualities first quality that he looks like him second quality that he is dull mature in dullness and third that he is fully stupid he is a confirmed fool after all he needs such great qualities for a ruler of his kingdom of nonsense since it is a kingdom of nonsense he needs such a king all such qualities are found in shadwell that's why he chooses shadwell as his successor so look at the contrast mature and tender in one sentence use of these opposites it's a very common feature of poetry to use such opposites the rest to some faint meaning make pretense but shadwell never deviates into sense some beams of wit on other souls may fall strike through and make a lucid interval other sons may sometimes make pretense of having some sense the rest stress means others to some faint meaning the other poets may have some meaning of their poetry they may pretend to have some meaning of poetry but shadwell never does anything sensible whatever he writes is nonsense says dryden the rest to some faint meaning make pretense but shadwell never deviates into sense he goes straight away into nonsense means other writers may have brief fits of intelligence and wisdom but shadwell was totally breath of these luxuries therefore therefore some beams of wit on other souls may fall strike through and make a lucid interval others may have some intelligence in them but shared well he is totally empty but shadwell's genuine knight admits no ray his rising folks prevail upon the day shadwell deserves the throne of kingdom of nonsense look at the word faint which means weak lucid means sensible sensible interval means break others may pretend to be me to be meaningful rays of intellect may fall on others but not on shed well but shadwell's genuine knight admits no ray his rising folks prevail upon the day shadwell's foolishness is like a dark night no ray of wisdom can pass through it even during the day his stupidity prevails like a thick cover of fog dryden means dryden means shared well is totally empty of wisdom he has no sense he is totally nonsense dryden uses metaphors for intelligence and stupidity night and fogs are metaphors of dullness and stupidity whereas ray and day they stand for intelligence wit and wisdom metaphors and alliteration are the main features poetic devices used in these lines metaphors include day which stands for intelligence and wit night and falls stand for dullness and stupidity his goodly fabric fills the eye and scenes designed for thoughtless majesty thoughtless as monarch oaks that shade the plane and spread in solange street supinely rain now after analyzing shadwell's intellectual skills dryden comes to his physical appearance you can look at the picture of shadwell he was quite fatty and dryden comes to his physical appearance shadwell's body fat body easily attracts attention it appears that his huge body has been designed for thoughtless royal figure continuing his satirical attack on shadwell dryden argues that his huge body is like a gigantic orc besides means apart from this his goodly fabric fills the eye his huge body hugh's body attracts the eye and seems designed for thoughtless majesty here a common perception that fat people lack in intelligence and and they are not sharp and brilliant it is a common perception though it is not true you must have seen fatty doctors engineers and even players hindi mammal how he how easily he played fast bowlers run out is a separate thing though but he was a great player certainly he was a great player so there can be people can be intelligent despite their fatty body so here dryden says that like the huge oak shadwell was dull and he was not dynamic he's like a huge awk which spreads over a large area and does not let rays of sun reach the ground under it thoughtless as monarch ops he was brainless like an oak and shade the plane shade the plin means doesn't let sunlight reach there and spread in slam state silently spread itself on a large area supinely reign supplyingly means supinely means lazily he lazily ruled his kingdom shadwell says dryden he was like an oak tree which spreads over a vast area and doesn't let sun right reach the ground under it similarly shadwell's foolishness does not allow wisdom to reach his followers again like the monarch oak shadwell is undynamic and lazy here thoughtless as monarch ox a simile has been used in this line because here oak has been compared with shadwell shared well with oak alliteration there is a beautiful at alliteration in the last line sir sir sound look at the sound beginning which begins every word spread in solemn state supinely reign here alliteration has been used haywood and shirley were but types of the the last great profit of totology dryden considers foolish writers like thomas haywood and james shirley only shadwell's shadows heboot and shirley these two writers were contemporary to shakespeare they were elizabethan writers and they were reasonably good writers and hardly deserved the kind of contempt dryden reserved for them various critics including the famous essays charles lamb they have praised these elizabethan writers haywood and shirley but dryden has equated them with shadwell dryden must have some kind of hate for these writers and that is why he equals them to schedule he considers shadwell as the last prophet of total rosie tautology means repetition repeating the same thing here it means art of saying same thing in different and vague unclear ways without any clear meaning dryden means to say that shadwell had no ideas for writing literature and he only repeated what others said that is why he says he uses an apostrophe last great prophet of tautology you have repeated what others have said now what do you say what purpose this poem serves this poem is criticizing shadwell a particular person and becomes universal in criticizing shadwell in criticizing shared well it criticizes all bad poets perhaps in dryden's time there must have been many bad poets who considered themselves poets and others say they are not poets they were not good poets and who had nothing to say and they repeated whatever others said so this is what dryden says about shed shadwell in this poem now i have some questions for you try to answer them my first question is whom does flack no choose as his successor whom does flacknote choose his successor and why second question to which period of literature does dryden belong third question is which of dryden's poetic skills does dryden highlight question number four from which longer poem has the poem shadwell been extracted question number five what poetic device has been used in the expression thoughtless as mona ox question number six but shakespeare but uh schedule never deviates into sense shadwell never deviates into sense what does it mean question number seven what does dryden compare shared well with what are the similarities between these two question number eight what is tautology try to answer these questions thank you very much for watching this video happy learning