The Hind and the Panther

Last updated

The Hind and the Panther
by John Dryden
The Hind and the Panther 1687.jpg
Title page to the 1687 2nd edition
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Religious poem, beast fable
Publisher Jacob Tonson
Publication date1687
Media typePrint (hardback)
Lines2,569
Pages145 pp
Full text
Wikisource-logo.svg The Hind and the Panther at Wikisource

The Hind and the Panther: A Poem, in Three Parts (1687) is an allegory in heroic couplets by John Dryden. At some 2600 lines it is much the longest of Dryden's poems, translations excepted, and perhaps the most controversial. The critic Margaret Doody has called it "the great, the undeniable, sui generis poem of the Restoration era…It is its own kind of poem, it cannot be repeated (and no one has repeated it)." [1]

Contents

Theme and synopsis

Dryden converted to Catholicism more or less simultaneously with the accession of the Roman Catholic king James II in 1685, to the disgust of many Protestant writers. [2] The Hind and the Panther is considered the major poetic result of Dryden's conversion, and presents some evidence for thinking that Dryden became a Catholic from genuine conviction rather than political time-serving, in so far as his call for an alliance of Anglicans, Catholics and King against the Nonconformists directly contradicted James II's policy of appealing to the Nonconformists as allies against the Church of England. [3] The Hind and the Panther falls into three parts: the first is a description of the different religious denominations, in which the Roman Catholic church appears as "A milk-white Hind, immortal and unchanged", [4] the Church of England as a panther, the Independents as a bear, the Presbyterians as a wolf, the Quakers as a hare, the Socinians as a fox, the Freethinkers as an ape, and the Anabaptists as a boar; [5] the second part deals with the controversial topics of church authority and transubstantiation; and the third part argues that the Crown and the Anglican and Catholic Churches should form a united front against the Nonconformist churches and the Whigs.

Critical reception

The poem was answered by a flurry of hostile pamphlets, the best-known being The Hind and the Panther Transvers'd to the Story of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse by Matthew Prior and Charles Montagu, which ridiculed the incongruity of animals debating theology:

Is it not as easie to imagine two Mice bilking Coachmen, and supping at the Devil; as to suppose a Hind entertaining the Panther at a Hermit's Cell, discussing the greatest Mysteries of Religion? [6]

The satirist Tom Brown rhetorically asked "How can he stand up for any mode of Worship, who hath been accustomed to bite, and spit his Venom against the very Name thereof?" [7] As the passions aroused by James II's reign slowly faded the poem began to be judged on its own merits. Dr. Johnson tells us that Alexander Pope used to refer to The Hind and the Panther as the most "correct" example of Dryden's versification. Johnson's own opinion was that the poem was

written with great smoothness of metre, a wide extent of knowledge, and an abundant multiplicity of images; the controversy is embellished with pointed sentences, diversified by illustrations, and enlivened by sallies of invective.

Nevertheless, he agreed with Prior and Montagu that "The scheme of the work is injudicious and incommodious; for what can be more absurd than that one beast should counsel another to rest her faith upon a pope and council?" [8] Walter Scott found this no more absurd than many another fine beast-fable, and considered that the versification

never falls, never becomes rugged; rises with the dignified strain of the poetry; sinks into quaint familiarity, where sarcasm and humour are employed; and winds through all the mazes of theological argument, without becoming either obscure or prosaic. The arguments are in general advanced with an air of conviction and candour, which, in those days, must have required the protestant reader to be on his guard in the perusal, and which seems completely to ascertain the sincerity of the author in his new religious creed. [9]

William Hazlitt believed the poem to have "more genius, vehemence and strength of description than any other of Dryden's works". [10] Lord Macaulay's Whiggish distaste for its message was balanced by an admiration of the poem's style: "In none of Dryden's works can be found passages more pathetic and magnificent, greater ductility and energy of language, or a more pleasing and various music". [11] George Saintsbury encapsulated this ambivalent attitude when he called The Hind and the Panther "the greatest poem ever written in the teeth of its subject". [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Milton</span> English poet and civil servant (1608–1674)

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost, written in blank verse and including twelve books, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost elevated Milton's reputation as one of history's greatest poets. He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Pope</span> English poet (1688–1744)

Alexander Pope was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, Pope is best known for his satirical and discursive poetry including The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, and for his translations of Homer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dryden</span> English poet and playwright (1631–1700)

John Dryden was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax</span> English politician and noble

Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, was an English statesman and poet. He was the grandson of the 1st Earl of Manchester and was eventually ennobled himself, first as Baron Halifax in 1700 and later as Earl of Halifax in 1714. As one of the four members of the so-called Whig Junto, Montagu played a major role in English politics under the reigns of King William III and Queen Anne. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1694 to 1699 and as First Lord of the Treasury from 1714 until his death the following year. He was also president of the Royal Society and a patron of the scientist Isaac Newton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux</span> French poet and critic (1636–1711)

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, often known simply as Boileau, was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the prose. He was greatly influenced by Horace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gower</span> English writer and poet (c.1330–1408)

John Gower was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works—the Mirour de l'Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis—three long poems written in French, Latin, and English respectively, which are united by common moral and political themes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metaphysical poets</span> Term used to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century

The term Metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterised by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrical quality of their verse. These poets were not formally affiliated and few were highly regarded until 20th century attention established their importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Prior</span> English diplomat and poet

Matthew Prior was an English poet and diplomat. He is also known as a contributor to The Examiner.

<i>Absalom and Achitophel</i> 1681 satirical poem by John Dryden

Absalom and Achitophel is a celebrated satirical poem by John Dryden, written in heroic couplets and first published in 1681. The poem tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681). The poem also references the Popish Plot (1678).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Rymer</span> English poet and antiquary, c. 1643–1713

Thomas Rymer was an English poet, literary critic, antiquary and historiographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restoration literature</span> Literature written during the English restoration

Restoration literature is the English literature written during the historical period commonly referred to as the English Restoration (1660–1688), which corresponds to the last years of Stuart reign in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. In general, the term is used to denote roughly homogenous styles of literature that centre on a celebration of or reaction to the restored court of Charles II. It is a literature that includes extremes, for it encompasses both Paradise Lost and the Earl of Rochester's Sodom, the high-spirited sexual comedy of The Country Wife and the moral wisdom of The Pilgrim's Progress. It saw Locke's Treatises of Government, the founding of the Royal Society, the experiments and holy meditations of Robert Boyle, the hysterical attacks on theatres from Jeremy Collier, and the pioneering of literary criticism from John Dryden and John Dennis. The period witnessed news becoming a commodity, the essay developing into a periodical art form, and the beginnings of textual criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Philips</span> Anglo-Welsh poet and translator

Katherine or Catherine Philips, also known as "The Matchless Orinda", was an Anglo-Welsh royalist poet, translator, and woman of letters. She achieved renown as a translator of Pierre Corneille's Pompée and Horace, and for her editions of poetry after her death. She was highly regarded by many notable later writers, including John Dryden and John Keats, as being influential.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom</span> Honorary position in the United Kingdom

The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently on the advice of the prime minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. The origins of the laureateship date back to 1616 when a pension was provided to Ben Jonson, but the first official holder of the position was John Dryden, appointed in 1668 by Charles II. On the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who held the post between November 1850 and October 1892, there was a break of four years as a mark of respect; Tennyson's laureate poems "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" and "The Charge of the Light Brigade" were particularly cherished by the Victorian public. Four poets, Thomas Gray, Samuel Rogers, Walter Scott and Philip Larkin turned down the laureateship. Historically appointed for an unfixed term and typically held for life, since 1999 the position has been for a term of ten years. The holder of the position as at 2024 is Simon Armitage who succeeded Carol Ann Duffy in May 2019 after 10 years in office.

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day, a Poem (1850) is, despite the title, often treated as two poems by Robert Browning, rather than as one poem in two parts. It was the first new work published by Robert Browning after his marriage to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and their departure for Italy, and is widely considered to show the influence of his wife's religious beliefs. "Christmas-Eve" is an account of a vision in which the narrator is taken to a Nonconformist church, to St. Peter's in Rome, to a Göttingen lecture theatre where a practitioner of the Higher criticism is discoursing on the Christian myth, and back to the Nonconformist church. In "Easter-Day" a Christian and a sceptic debate the nature of faith. Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day gives valuable clues to the religious opinions of Browning himself, as opposed to those of his characters, but, as his wife warned a correspondent, "Certainly the poem does not represent his own permanent state of mind, which was what I meant when I told you it was dramatic."

The Threnodia Augustalis is a 517-line occasional poem written by John Dryden to commemorate the death of Charles II in February 1685. The poem was "rushed into print" within a month. The title is a reference to the classical threnody, a poem of mourning, and to Charles as a "new Augustus". It is subtitled "A Funeral-Pindarique Poem Sacred to the Happy Memory of King Charles II," and is one of several poems on the subject published at the time.

Religio Laici, Or A Layman's Faith (1682) is a poem written in heroic couplets by John Dryden. It was written in response to the publication of an English translation of the Histoire critique due vieux testament by the French cleric Father Richard Simon. Simon's book applied detailed criticism to the textual history of the Bible and argued that, given the compromised nature of much of the Bible, Christians would do better to base their faith on the history and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.

<i>The Traveller</i> (poem)

The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society (1764) is a philosophical poem by novelist Oliver Goldsmith. In heroic verse of an Augustan style it discusses the causes of happiness and unhappiness in nations. It was the work which first made Goldsmith's name, and is still considered a classic of mid-18th-century poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algernon Charles Swinburne</span> English poet, playwright and novelist (1837–1909)

Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist and critic. He wrote many plays - all tragedies - and collections of poetry such as Poems and Ballads, and contributed to the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

James Kinsley, FBA, FRSL was a Scottish literary scholar.

References

  1. A. W. Ward and A. R. Waller (eds.) The Cambridge History of English Literature (Cambridge: University Press, 1933) vol. 8, p. 52; Margaret Anne Doody The Daring Muse: Augustan Poetry Reconsidered (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) p. 80.
  2. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (eds.) The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) vol. 16, p. 1023; Anne Cotterill Digressive Voices in Early Modern English Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) p. 218
  3. A. W. Ward and A. R. Waller (eds.) The Cambridge History of English Literature (Cambridge: University Press, 1933) vol. 8, p. 52
  4. Part 1, line 1
  5. Alexandre Beljame (ed. Bonamy Dobrée, trans. E. O. Lorimer) Men of Letters and the English Public in the Eighteenth Century, 1660–1744 (London: Routledge, 1948) p. 183
  6. Quoted in Anne Cotterill Digressive Voices in Early Modern English Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) pp. 218–21
  7. James Kinsley and Helen Kinsley (ed.) John Dryden: The Critical Heritage (London: Routledge, 1996) p. 187.
  8. James Kinsley (ed.) John Dryden: The Critical Heritage (London: Routledge, 1996) pp. 300–302
  9. James Kinsley (ed.) John Dryden: The Critical Heritage (London: Routledge, 1996) pp. 393–95.
  10. David Nichol Smith (ed.) Dryden: Poetry & Prose (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1925) p. 30.
  11. Lord Macaulay The History of England from the Accession of James II (London: J. M. Dent, 1934) vol. 1, p. 660.
  12. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism vol. 31 (1989) p. 220.