Absalom and Achitophel John Dryden

John Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel (1681), a verse satire based in Restoration England, has led Edward Albert to dub him “the champion of monarchy”. Indeed, the poet’s use of two Biblical narratives (the tale of David and Absalom and the fable...

‘The true end of satire is the amendment of vices by correction. And he who writes honestly is no more an enemy to the offender, than the physician to the patient, when he prescribes harsh remedies to an inveterate disease’

Satire is a difficult,...