ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -John Dryden is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”. He was the first to teach the English people to determine the merit of composition upon principles.

Detailed explanation-2: -Dryden the poet is best known today as a satirist, although he wrote only two great original satires: Mac Flecknoe (1682) and The Medall (1682). His most famous poem, Absalom and Achitophel (1681) contains several brilliant satiric portraits. But unlike satire, it comes to a final, tragic resolution.

Detailed explanation-3: -Introduction: Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), the Victorian poet and critic, was ‘the first modern critic’ [1], and could be called ‘the critic’s critic’, being a champion not only of great poetry, but of literary criticism itself.