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5. His Influence
Dryden has been considered as the representative figure in
the literary development of English literature in the Restoration Age.
Following the standards of classicism Dryden established the heroic couplet
as one of the principal English verse forms, clarified English prose and
made it concise and flexible, and raised English literary criticism to a new
level. Dryden was the forerunner of the English classical school of
literature in the next century and also greatly influenced on Alexander Pope
and Samuel Johnson who were the two most important poets of the neoclassical
tradition.
His influence on English literature can be seen in three aspects: 1) He
established the heroic couplet as the fashion for satiric, didactic, and
descriptive poetry. 2)He developed a direct and concise prose style. 3)He
developed the art of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous
prefaces to his poems.
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