Restoration Period: Restoration Poetry

Restoration Poetry

Poetry was just as important to literature in the Restoration era and many of those known as playwrights were also known as poets. John Dryden was even proclaimed the first poet laureate by King Charles II while Sir William Davenant attempted to write the first Restoration epic poem to recapture the works that had dominated the medieval and Renaissance periods. Lyric, ariel, historic and epic poems dominated the age, especially as poets of the time attempted to recapture the works of the Classical age. ​ While the Faerie Queene had become a popular work during the Renaissance, English poets of the period decided that England needed a national epic poem like France’s Song of Roland. Spain’s The Poem of the Cid, or Italy’s Aeneid. Many people today consider Beowulf as England’s epic poem, but this work was largely unknown during the Restoration era. As a result, writers attempted to work on one such as Davenant’s Gondibert and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which had been written during the Interregnum but not published until later. Milton also attempted to write an epic about King Arthur as did Richard Blackmore with his Prince Arthur and King Arthur. ​   Lyric poetry also became popular during the period allowing writers to express their opinions in first person. These poems became more introspective and philosophical as well.. Rhyming couplets and iambic pentameter were the dominant structure for all poetry, that put on the stage and elsewhere, during this period similar to the works of Shakespeare. Heroic couplets also started to emerge at this time as did Samuel Butler’s iambic tetrameter also known as Hudibrastic verse. Other poetic works were used as parodies and satire, especially among the court poets These poets included Edmund Walter, the Earl of Rochester, the Earl of Dorset and the Duke of Buckingham. Similar poets included royalist supporters who were not a members of the court such as female poet Aphra Behn, Matthew Prior and Robert Gould. These poets also wrote stage plays and where known for satirizing members of the court. While the king enjoyed satires, he could be pushed too far and several writers found themselves in trouble as a result. Of course, John Dryden was the most prolific poet of the period. Meanwhile, Jonathan Swift in Ireland was producing some of the period’s greatest satire. ​