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Andrew Parks Epic Satire: John Dryden

In the late 1670s, John Dryden wrote a poem. It was a poem about a fellow writer,

Thomas Shadwell, with whom Dryden had a dispute, couched in literary and political

differences. The title of the poem was “Mac Flecknoe” and it was written in a verse known as the

mock epic due to its use of the literary conventions of epic poetry in service to satire. Richard

Flecknoe was a prolific writer who died around the time Dryden wrote his piece but his work

never garnered him much acclaim; Dryden himself did not like Flecknoe. Thomas Shadwell’s

writing also never garnered him much acclaim but he still claimed to be a successor to Ben

Jonson and his comedies of humor. Dryden used his satire in “Mac Flecknoe” to say that, rather

than a successor of Jonson, Shadwell was a successor of Flecknoe (Norton, 2111). What is

interesting about Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” is not so much the use he puts it to in belittling

Shadwell, but rather way he uses it to aggrandize himself.

For example, his leading claim against Shadwell throughout the entire piece is that

Shadwell’s writing is both boring and unintelligent. He first makes these claims in his poem

using the voice of the deceased Flecknoe deciding to whom to grant governance over the realm

of nonsense which he had created: “[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” (Norton, 2112). Boiled down to the barest minimum, Dryden is simply calling

Shadwell dull and stupid.

However, Dryden dresses these insults like the praise a dying king might have for his

favored son, using the high language of epic poetry to contrast the low language of the insults

and thus grant them greater resonance to the learned reader. In doing this, Dryden is saying two

things. First and most obviously, he gives his opinion of Shadwell. Second and more

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importantly, he is saying that he, Dryden, is such a better writer that he can take something so

debased as insulting someone and, through proper use of language and rhetoric, turn it into

something beautiful to read.

Further in the poem Dryden once again uses this juxtaposition of kingliness with the

profaneness of Shadwell when he says, “All arguments, but most his plays, persuade, / That for

anointed dullness he was made” (Norton, 2113). Once more, Dryden is calling Shadwell’s work

boring but by using the phrase “anointed dullness,” he is calling to mind the image of a king

anointed in oils during the coronation ceremony. Here, Dryden is using the image of a king

instead of the language to show how effective a writer he is in comparison to Shadwell.

Dryden does not simply use the language and image of the monarchy in his satire against

Shadwell, but he also brings in biblical references as well. For example, early in the poem he

writes, “Even I [Flecknoe], a dunce of more renown than they, / Was sent before but to prepare

thy way; / And, coarsely clad in Norwich drugget, came / To teach the nations in thy greater

name” (Norton, 2112). In this section, Dryden is comparing Flecknoe to John the Baptist who

was supposed to be a forerunner to Jesus Christ and teach the people about him so that they

would be better apt to receive him. By doing this, Dryden is once again confirming his claim that

Shadwell is successor to Flecknoe; Shadwell being the Christ of this comparison.

By using such biblical references in his satire, Dryden not only disparages Flecknoe

further, but is once again showing his skill at using literary technique by turning the profane into

something pure. Conversely, this particular verse could also be read as corrupting the pure by

bringing it into the realm of the profane. Read this way, it would mean that not only is

Shadwell’s work dull and stupid, but also so bad that even the Bible would be corrupted in its

presence.

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Dryden finishes his mock epic against Shadwell with one final reference to the Bible.

This time he says, “Sinking he [Flecknoe] left his drugget robe behind, / Borne upwards by a

subterranean wind. / The Mantle fell to the young prophet’s part, / With double portion of his

father’s art” (Norton, 2117). This is a reference of the scene in the Bible in which the mantle of

the prophet Elijah fell on his successor, Elisha. It is interesting not only because it not only once

again reaffirms that Shadwell is Flecknoe’s successor, but also because the final line has the

stinging bite that Shadwell’s writing is doubly worse than Flecknoe’s ever was.

Throughout this poem, Dryden time and again uses high verse, grand allusions, and holy

metaphors to contrast the very low and base subject of the piece. Indeed, that is the entire point

of the mock epic in satire. However, due to the very nature of the piece and its mocking of a

fellow writer, it necessarily shines the light of satire back upon Dryden, revealing him as more

than a critic of another’s work but as what must be the very opposite of whomever his is

critiquing.

It would be difficult to write a piece like this, beyond the mere technical difficulties of

epic meter and language or the allusions it holds, because once Dryden wrote this his own

writing would fall under much greater scrutiny. This piece works very well as a satirical critique

of Shadwell, but it also seems to be a dare on Dryden’s part. He seems to say, “Look what I have

done. See how even when I write insults, I create art. Just you try to put a blemish on me.”