Blog Post # 2: Dryden

Dryden; Why so Dry?!

If only Dryden would have stopped worrying about what others thought of him? I wonder if he would have had the same impact? I think one of the biggest differences between him and current satirical works is that in today’s satire, the writers seem very little worried about what the haters think. Nowadays, writers will get a laugh out of you at anyone’s expense without any regrets. There is no concern with appeasing a person/group in power or anything of that sort. In contrast, Dryden seemingly was very concerned with being in good standing before the kingdom, he even changed his religious practices, which, I find very entertaining.

Dryden and today’s satire engage in the business of attacking, judging and poking fun. The game is still the same, the way in which the game is played is what has changed. In Dryden’s time, since there were no digital media outlets, all was done in writing. His writing style was what we call heroic verse, it always had to involve an elevated character for it to be considered and interesting read. In today’s world, way satire is done is very differently, I think we have become so less interested in royalty and people in power that we don’t need to always make fun of them. Maybe we have come to realize that the middle and lower class, have more interesting things going on. I don’t know, I am just guessing! Well, in a way that can be true, but, we all know that we love making fun of our governmental figures and their off the wall decisions, especially in recent months. We just love our President! What can I say?!

Overall, I am so thankful for writers that try to make us laugh at the expense of Donald Trump or king whatever. I am also glad that we are not stuck with only using elevated characters. A writer can be just as successful, using a moose as their main character. No one cares if the moose is of royal blood or if the moose is rich. All we care about is how the moose managed to go shopping at the local grocery store.

Blog post #2