Time to Begin Anew: Dryden's 'Georgics' and 'Aeneis'

Abstract

Time to Begin Anew places Dryden's translations of Virgil's Georgics and Aeneis firmly in the context of late seventeenth-century literary and political dilemmas and transitions. Arguing that these translations are important documents in a watershed period of English literature, this study demonstrates that they are not hackwork or party pieces. This book also demonstrates both the continuities with and departures from Dryden's own early works, particularly his Virgilian poems, showing both the wholeness of his literary career and its diversity.