Dryden's last three years of published works begin with Alexander's Feast and end with Fables, his largest miscellany of poetical translations. Alexander's Feast, like the earlier Song for St. Cecilia's Day (Works, III), was commissioned by the Musical Society for performance at its annual tribute to sacred music. The Fables included selections from Homer, Ovid, Boccaccio, and Chaucer. Extensive and detailed notes to these translations show readers how well Dryden succeeded in transmitting the styles and the very sounds of his originals. Volume VII ends with a section of miscellaneous pieces published at other times, including Dryden's only known Latin work. The presentation of the writings in this volume, like that of the entire twenty-volume series, is a tribute not only to Dryden but also to the editors who have guided it through five decades.

Volume IX contains three of Dryden's Plays, along with accompanying scholarly appartus: Indian Emperour, Secret Love, and Sir Martin Mar-All.

This is the final volume in The Works of John Dryden and the last volume of poetry written by Dryden before he died in 1700.

The correspondence of John Dryden is the definitive edition of the letters of the most important playwright and poet of the late seventeenth century. He defined an age and his newly transcribed disparate correspondence is placed in the context of contemporaneous and current debates about literature, politics and religion. It is also the most important account of the relationship between an author and his bookseller of the time. The illustrated correspondence contains a full biographical, textual introduction and calendar of letters. It is transcribed diplomatically and structured chronologically, with contextualising sections about particular correspondences. The readership will be undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students and academics with an interest in seventeenth century literature, politics, religion and culture. The editor won the MLA Morton N. Cohen Award for a Distinguished Edition of Letters.

John Dryden, Poet Laureate to Charles II and James II, was one of the great literary figures of the late seventeenth century. This Companion provides a fresh look at Dryden s tactics and triumphs in negotiating the extraordinary political and cultural revolutions of his time. The newly commissioned essays introduce readers to the full range of his work as a poet, as a writer of innovative plays and operas, as a purveyor of contemporary notions of empire, and most of all as a man intimate with the opportunities of aristocratic patronage as well as the emerging market for literary gossip, slander and polemic. Dryden s works are examined in the context of seventeenth-century politics, publishing and ideas of authorship. A valuable resource for students and scholars, the Companion includes a full chronology of Dryden s life and times and a detailed guide to further reading.