MacFlecknoe
Overview
Mock-heroic
Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature...
satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
written by John Dryden
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...
. It is a direct attack on Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell
Thomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.-Life:Shadwell was born at Stanton Hall, Norfolk, and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and...
, another prominent poet of the time. It opens with the line:
- All human things are subject to decay, and when fate summons, monarchs must obey
Written about 1678, but not published until 1682 (see 1682 in poetry
1682 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles concerning that nation's poetry or literature .-Works published:* Matthew Coppinger, Poems, Songs and Lover-Verses, upon Several Subjects...
), "Mac Flecknoe" is the outcome of a series of disagreements between Thomas Shadwell and Dryden.
Unanswered Questions
