JOHN DRYDEN : MAC

FLECKNOE UNIT 3 MAC FLECKNOE: SUMMARY AND

EXPLANATIONS
Structure

3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Summary of the Poem
3.3 Explanations
3.4 Let Us Sum Up
3.5 Answers to Check Your Progress
3.6 Unit End Questions
3.7 Suggested Reading

3.0 OBJECTIVES
In this unit you will read a detailed summary of the poem, Mac Flecknoe. This
will be followed by explanations to help you understand the poem better. By the
end of this unit, you should be able to relate the characters and theme to real life
settings and people of that time, and have a clear idea of what Dryden wanted to
convey. You will also understand how the satire is successful in ridiculing while
using the elevated form of the epic with characters and situations that clearly do
not deserve to be treated in an epic fashion.

3.1 INTRODUCTION
A reading of the poem with all its various references and the treatment of the
whole will make us agree with T.S. Eliot in whose view the poem was ‘the piece
of Dryden which is most fun, which is the most sustained display of surprise of wit
from line to line.’ Satire became poetic in Dryden’s society, because poetry was
adequately social, and society was sufficiently literary. The Restoration of 1660
not only changed sensibility but also divided society into Whig and Tory. The
class-cleavage was felt as political rather than economic and the divorce between
religion and politics was not yet complete. All this is illustrated in Mac Flecknoe.

3.2 SUMMARY OF THE POEM

Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe, or A Satyr upon the True – Blue Protestant Poet, T.S.
(1682) is a satiric poem of 217 lines and is a scathing personal attack on a former
friend Thomas Shadwell, who had replied to Dryden’s The Medal (1682) in a
poem with scurrilous abuse. The poem lampoons Thomas Shadwell, a well-known
playwright but an undistinguished poet. Dryden creates for Shadwell, a setting
that is completely imaginary and quite incredible. This fictional world is brought
to the reader through a mock-heroic form in which all the tools and machinery of
the epic mode are brought into play. We are treated to elaborate similes, elevated
diction, archaic vocabulary and spelling, heroic and kingly action – but all the
156 while, the situations and characters are debased, low, and farcical.
Richard Flecknoe, who died in 1678, was an Irish priest and a poetaster (someone Mac Flecknoe:
Summary and explanations
who writes inferior poetry) who wrote a little good verse and a great deal of bad.
This Richard Flecknoe was a stock subject for satire, and even Andrew Marvell
wrote against him as early as 1645. Evidently, this suggested Dryden’s choice of
Flecknoe, as he noticed how natural the connection was between a bad poet and
Flecknoe. Dryden and Shadwell of the Tory and the Whig parties respectively
came to satirize each other, and Flecknoe’s name was found handy because of
the contemporary references to him by poets and critics. Flecknoe finds his true
heir in his son (Mac) Shadwell, a garrulous Celtic bard, irrepressible and
irresponsible.
The poem begins:
All human things are subject to decay,
And, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey.
This Flecknoe found, who, like Augustus, young
Was called to empire, and had governed long.
In prose and verse was owned without dispute
through all the realms of Nonsense absolute.
The elevated tone of the opening couplet crashes once Flecknoe emerges as a
foolish Augustus having “governed long in prose and verse” but “through all the
realms of Nonsense absolute”. Flecknoe, a prince among fake poetasters, realizes
that he has ruled too long and decay is only the order of the day and the call of
Fate cannot be ignored. And this aged prince does at length debate to settle the
succession of his state (of “Nonsense absolute”) and ponders which of all his
sons was fit to reign and wage immortal war with wit. He decides:
“Shadwell alone my perfect image bears
Mature in dullness from his tender years;
Shadwell alone of all my sons is he
Who stands confirmed in full stupidity”.
Thus Shadwell comes out as the right choice for the succession because he is
described as “Mature in dullness from his tender years” and “stands confirmed
in full stupidity”. Dryden’s personal satire against Shadwell can be noticed here
as coming out very directly.
The poem next goes on to describe the site of the coronation which has been
selected to be in the disreputable quarters of London:
“Amidst this monument of vanished minds;
Pure clichés the suburban muse affords…..
Here Flecknoe as a place to fame well known
Ambitiously designed his Shadwell’s throne.”
So the place chosen for the coronation is also presented with a sarcastic venom
that actually delights the readers. The monument chosen has been described as
one of “vanished minds”, and the place chosen is praised mockingly and ironically
as one well known to fame, and Flecknoe is presented as ambitiously designing
his Shadwell’s throne. The mock-heroic tone of Dryden can be noticed running 157
JOHN DRYDEN : MAC through such descriptions. This monument chosen in the disreputable quarters of
FLECKNOE
London is actually only a wretched Nursery – a training centre for actors, where
only stupid dramas are the usual favourites.
The next few lines describe the actual coronation of Shadwell:
“The hoary prince in majesty appeared
High on a throne of his own labours reared,
At his right hand our young Ascanius sat
Rome’s other hope and pillar of the state
His brows thick fogs instead of glories grace,
And Lambent dullness played around his face”.
The “hoary Prince” is Flecknoe, and the throne is made up of his own books. The
reference to Ascanius takes us back to the relationship between Ascanius and
Aeneas. Shadwell is to Flecknoe what Ascanius was to Aeneas. The gently brilliant
“dullness” playing around Mac Flecknoe’s face once again reinforces the satiric
thrust on Shadwell.
In the next few lines, come Flecknoe’s unusual prophecy and unique benediction.
The father invokes God’s blessings on the son and visualizes a bright future for
him in a prophetic mood:
“Then thus continued he: My son advance
Still in new impudence, new ignorance.
Success let others teach, learn thou from me
Pangs without birth and fruitless industry”.
So Shadwell is given an unconventional benediction in which he is blessed to
advance still in “new impudence” and “new ignorance”. Flecknoe desires
Shadwell to learn from him how to produce “pangs without birth” and “fruitless
industry”. The poem ends with Flecknoe suddenly and dramatically disappearing,
thus putting an abrupt end to the entire procedure. The last few lines of the poem
give almost an anticlimactic bang:
“He said, but his last words were scarcely heard,
For Bruce and Longville had a trap prepared.
And down they sent the declaiming bard,
Sinking, he left his drugget robe behind
Borne upwards by a subterranean wind.
The mantle fell to the young prophet’s part
With double portions of his father’s art”.
Bruce and Longville are actually characters in Shadwell’s Virtuoso, and the drugget
robe is made of coarse woollen cloth. So as the “declaiming bard” (Flecknoe)
says his last words to the young prophet (Shadwell), the father’s mantle falls on
Shadwell with double force.
Satire as we know it today, is basically the legacy of Jon Dryden and it all begins
158 with Mac Flecknoe. The names that we associate with modern satire are writers
like Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and Voltaire but their satirical works are Mac Flecknoe:
Summary and explanations
drawn directly from the marvelous wit, fantastic hyperbole (exaggeration) and
the epic irony of Dryden’s masterpiece, Mac Flecknoe. We can see the echoes of
Dryden’s mock-heroic style (excessively elevated tone) that is used to mock and
parody their subjects. Mac Flecknoe is a long and complicated poem with a number
of references and much of the cultural context may be a little difficult to
understand. However, like any other satire, it is a commentary on the social and
literary scene of that time and is a great satire because it has stood the test of
time. Even though many of the references have lost their specific relevance, it
remains a clever commentary on a topic that will always be relevant – bad writers
and shoddy writing. Through his inventive use of satire, Dryden shows that he’s
not just a poet, but also a comedian, a critic, and a dissident.

3.3 EXPLANATIONS
The first line of the poem creates the illusion of its being an epic poem about a
historical hero. The next lines talk about Mac Flecknoe, a monarch who instead
of ruling an empire, rules over the realm of Nonsense.
Couplet 1 is a general reflection. It soon becomes evident (line 6) that the serious
tone is really serio-comic. The funny and ironic comparison of Flecknoe with the
Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar and the word ‘Non-sense’ in line 6 shocks the
reader into an awareness of the real satirical meaning intended by the poet. The
bathos (anticlimax) is repeated in line 12 in the phrase ‘War with wit’. For Dryden’s
meaning of the word ‘Wit’, you may read the units on the Augustan Age and also
that on his life. This word has undergone a change of meaning since the Augustan
Age. ‘Dullness’ (line 16), ‘stupidity’ (line 18), ‘Thoughtless’ (line 26) are
vituperative words. But Dryden adorned abuse with the semblance of majesty.
Lines 21 -24 - parody of a passage in Cowley’s epic Davideis, I:
Here no dear glimpse of the sun’s lovely face,
Strikes through the solid darkness of the place;
No dawning morn does her kind red display;
One slight weak beam would here be thought the Day.
Notice how Dryden twists the imagery of the play of light and darkness into
metaphorical ‘Beams of Wit’, ‘rising fogs’. ‘Lucid interval’ means short spells of
sanity between fits of lunacy. ‘Lucid’ literally means ‘bright’ and ‘clear’.
Metaphorically, it means clear reasoning or literary style. Shadwell was the best choice,
because he never ‘deviates into sense’. The exaggeration or distortion is deliberate.
In line 27, ‘Thoughtless as Monarch Oakes’ is a simile for the ‘goodly Fabrick’,
the bulky figure, of Shadwell. Og in Absalom and Achitophel (11) is Shadwell.
There we have a detailed, if less poetic and more angry or virulent, description of
his physical appearance.
Lines 29-32 - Thomas Heywood (1574-1641) and James Shirley (1596-1666)
were inferior dramatists. In line 103, we have ‘Much Heywood, Shirley, Ogleby
there lay’ among the heap of neglected authors. John the Baptist (the prophet)
prepared the way for Christ the Messiah. Flecknoe also was sent before but to
prepare the way. Notice the disproportion of the analogy which makes it absurdly 159
JOHN DRYDEN : MAC comic. But the analogy is not stated, it is only hinted. You can further see that if
FLECKNOE
Dryden is being unfair to Heywood and Shirley, he is being more than fair to
Shadwell as of their ‘type’.
Line 33 - Norwich, a town in Norfolk, the birth place of Shadwell, produced
rough wool from which coarse woolen garment (drugget) was prepared. An
obscure, incidental reference reinforcing satire.
Lines 35-36 - Flecknoe’s self-congratulatory reference to his musical composition
which pleased the King of Portugal.
Lines 37-40 - Shadwell was a musical entertainer at the court of Charles II. The
incident mentioned in these lines has not been traced. Moreover, lines (37-50)
parody Waller’s serious occasional poem of the Danger His Majesty...escaped...
at St. Andrews.
Line 42 refers to the fate of Sir Samuel Hearty, a Coxcomb who ‘takes himself to
be a Wit’ in Shadwell’s The Virtuoso (1676).
Line 43 - Arion, ancient poet and musician, was brought on shore by dolphins
charmed by his song. He had been thrown overboard by sailors conspiring to
murder him.
Lines 44-46 - The lute ‘trembling’ is at once literal and metaphorical. ‘Treble’
and ‘bass’ are technical terms describing two types - treble is a shrill note and
bass is deep and grave. ‘The treble squeaks for fear, the basses roar’ in Shadwell’s
music. Dryden loved music, and his Odes and songs show that the music of his
composition was superior.
Lines 47-50 - In these two couplets, the comedy or farce continues. The effect of
Shadwell’s music is described. Pissing Alley is a lane between the Strand and
Holywell Street in London.
Aston hall - the supposed palatial house of Lord Aston, a dull-headed scribbler.
The music resounds in the lane and the house. Observe that the echoes call
Shadwell and pay attention to the elevating rhythm, reminiscent of the majestic
rhythm of the Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day. The little fishes are a comic substitute for
the dolphins of the myth about Arion. Dolphins are sensitive to music. Fishes are not.
Secondly, the crumbs of toast tempt the fishes to gather round pleasure-barges.
Lines 51 -52 - Shadwell is described as the leader of his musical band, making
wild gesticulations with his hand. Notice the words ‘Prince’ for its heroic
association, and ‘Threshing’ for its agricultural context.
Lines 53-54 - Psyche, an opera by Shadwell. It was elaborately produced at Dorset
Garden in February 1675 with a company of French dancers led by ‘the most
famous master, St. Andre’.
Line 57 - One of the king’s musicians, Singleton (d.1686) was often employed in
the theatre.
Line 59 - Villerius - the name of a character in Davenant’s semi-opera, The Siege
of Rhodes (1656) which Dryden described as the first rhymed play. Singleton
turned ‘pale with envy’ at the success of the music of Shadwell. Villerius appears
with a sword in one hand and a lute in the other, thus combining ridiculously
160 musical and military accomplishments. Singleton swore that he would never act
Villerius anymore because Shadwell’s Psyche had thrown all other operas into Mac Flecknoe:
Summary and explanations
the shade.
Line 61 - See how pathos is manipulated. Look at the word ‘boy’. The old Sire’s
hopes from his joy has a touch of the universal sentiment of fathers. Cowley, in
Davideis ii) noted that the Hebrew use of the word Boy applied to a boy of ten as
well as to a man of thirty six. Shadwell was 36 in 1678, the year of the composition
of Mac Flecknoe.
Lines 64 - 65 - London in the terror of the Popish Plot. During the period of the
Roman occupation of Britain, London was called ‘Londinium Augusta’.
Line 67 - Barbican was a small round tower on the outer gate of the fort for the
posting of an advance guard.
Line 69 - Fate has so ordained that ‘of all the pile an empty name remains’, the
poet’s way of stating that it is in a state of ruin, an empty name.
Lines 70 -74 - The Nursery - an institution which trained actors and actresses for
the stage.
Lines 72-77 - parody Cowley’s Davideis i, particularly the following lines:
Where their vast courts the mother-waters keep,
And undisturbed by moons in silence sleep...
Beneath the Dens where unfledged tempests lie,
And infant winds their tender voices try.
T.S. Eliot spoke of the prejudice which dismissed the material, the feelings, of
Dryden’s poetry as unpoetic. Poetic emotion is distinguished by him from personal
emotion.
Notice the transformations:
‘mother-waters’ becomes ‘mother strumpets’
‘Moons’ becomes ‘watch’
‘Dens’ is replaced by ‘a Nursery’
‘Tempests’ becomes ‘Actors’
‘Winds’ becomes ‘Punks’
All these are distortions, turning the sublime into the bathetic, the serious into
the serio-comic. Dryden’s Nursery’, thus, has a literary source in Cowley’s ‘Dens’.
The mock-heroic effect is so created.
Line 78 - Maximin is the hero of Dryden’s heroic play Tyrannic Love or The
Royal Martyr. The rant and bombast of Maximin’s declamations defying the
Gods made it fashionable in the heroic tragedy of the time. Remember, Dryden
was satirised in The Rehearsal. The hero of the heroic tragedy can (in a couplet
from The Rehearsal):
Make proud Jove, with all his thunders, see
This single arm more dreadful than is he.
Lines 79 -80 - John Fletcher (1579- 1625) who collaborated with Beaumont was
an Elizabethan dramatist. 161
JOHN DRYDEN : MAC Buskins - high-heeled shoes usually worn by actors in tragedy. Symbol of tragedy.
FLECKNOE
Socks - Low heeled light shoes worn in comedy.
Ben Jonson - the famous comic poet and neo-classic critic.
Line 81 - Simkin - a cobbler in an interlude, a stupid clown intriguing with an old
man’s wife.
Line 82 - Dryden borrowed the phrase from Davenant’s Gondibert (IV, 36):
This to a structure led, long known to fame
And call’d the moment of vanished minds.
Line 83 - Clinches – puns ‘the suburban Muse’ of poetasters.
Line 84 - Panton - a celebrated punster of the day.
Line 87 - Dekker - Elizabethan comic dramatist. The prophecy referred to here is
perhaps Dryden’s own invention. Dryden was prejudiced against Dekker possibly
because of his confrontation with Ben Jonson. Ben Jonson had satirized him in
The Poetaster (1602), and Dekker had replied in Satiromastix.
Lines 90 -93 - Shadwell’s early plays are satirised. Psyche, a rhymed opera, The
Miser (1672), The Hypocrite (1671), and The Humorists (1671) are ‘three as
silly Plays as a Man would wish to see’. The remark was made by Settle in the
Preface to Ibrahim (1677). Dryden’s critical controversy with Settle is, by the
way, described at length by Dr. Johnson in his Life of Dryden.
Raymond is a character in The Humorists and Bruce in The Virtuoso (1676).
Line 94 - Refers to Virgil, Aeneid iv.173 ff.
Line 97 – near - Bun-Hill and distant - Watling Street - from far and near. Bun
Hill is in Finsbury district of London suburbs in the north, and Watling Street is
old Roman Road in South Britain.
Line 102 - For Heywood, Shirley see the note on line 29. Ogleby was John Ogleby,
dancing master and poetaster. He translated Homer and Virgil. In the Dunciad,
Pope calls him ‘Ogleby the great’. The Scottish poet was also the founder of the
Dublin theatre, printer, translator and cartographer.
Line 104 - The King’s customary ‘Yeomen of the Guard’ are burlesqued here.
‘Bilk’t Stationers for Yeomen’. Cheated booksellers were there. Oldham said
that Shadwell was cursed by the broken stationers.
Line 105 - Henry Herrigman, the publisher, was also Dryden’s publisher.
Lines 108-111 - Dryden parodies Virgil, Aeneid. Ascanins, Son of ‘Aeneas, was
the second hope of Rome, the first was Aeneas himself. The epic heightening
makes the mock-epic admirable poetry. ‘Pillar of the State’ imitates Milton’s’
With grave aspect he rose
And in his rising seemed a pillar of state (Paradise Lost)
The fiery halo over the head of locus signifies glory in Virgil’s Aeneid, lambent
162 radiance is burlesqued in ‘lambent dullness’.
Lines 112-1 13 - refer to Livy’s Histories, XXXI. As a child, Hannibal was made Mac Flecknoe:
Summary and explanations
by his father to swear eternal hostility to Rome.
Line 118 - ‘Sacred Unction’ signifies the holy oil used to anoint in a religious
ceremony like baptism or coronation.
Lines 120-121 - When the king leaves the Abbey after coronation, the Orb (‘Ball’
in the poem) is in the left hand and the sceptre in the right. The ‘mug of ale’ refers
to Shadwell’s love of ale. Refer to the note on line 27 above.
Line 125 - Love’s Kingdom is a tragi-comedy by Flecknoe.
Line 126 - ‘Poppies’ is soporific, parching and sterilising - an aphrodisiac but not
fertilizing. The sexual implication of Psyche springing from his ‘loins’ is related
to barren poppy. Shadwell was said to be an opium-addict.
Lines 129-131 - Romulus is the legendary founder of Rome. He disagreed with
his twin-brother Remus about the site of the city and they decided the question
by augury (omen). Twelve owls are supposed to be auspicious augury. The
reference to the heroic legend makes fun of Shadwell.
Lines 134- 138 - Parody of the classical representation of Jupiter and Virgil’s
description of the Sibyl in Aeneid. Also, Milton’s Paradise Lost: ‘Thrice he assayed
to speak and thrice...’
Flecknoe’s second speech is inspired. The burlesque of epic convention here is
noticeable. The inspiration is of course mock-heroic and comic.
Lines 139-140 - Ireland, homeland for Flecknoe, is fatherland for Shadwell.
Barbadoes is the British West Indies. Western main is the Atlantic Ocean. Ireland
and Barbadoes are chosen because they are remote and uncivilized regions. The
idea is that in these countries people would take his dullness as brilliance.
Line 143 - Love’s Kingdom is the title of a tragi-comedy by Flecknoe. The father
naturally wishes his son to achieve more than he himself did.
Line 144 - The epic style of benediction is burlesqued.
Lines 147-1 48 - Virgil, Aeneid burlesqued.
Line 149 - In the Prologue to The Virtuoso (1670) Shadwell declared that ‘Wit,
like China, should long buri’d lie’, and hit at ‘Drudges of the Stage’ like Dryden
who were ‘bound to struggle twice a year’.
Line 151 - Sir George Etherege. The following lines refer to his plays. Dorimant,
Mrs. Loveit, and Fopling are characters in The Man of Mode; Culley in The
Comical Revenge; and Cockwood in She Would if She Cou’d. The epithet ‘gentle’
is used by Dryden because Etherege did not choose to reply to Shadwell when
the latter lampooned him. Etherege is credited with having written ‘the pattern
of genteel comedy’ and is regarded as the forerunner of Congreve, Goldsmith
and Sheridan.
Lines 163-164 - Sedley wrote a poor prologue for Shadwell’s Epsom Wells (1673),
and was said (in spite of Shadwell’s denial) to have helped him write the play.
‘hungry’ may mean devoid of wit. 163
JOHN DRYDEN : MAC Line 168 - ‘The greatest master of Tropes and figures’, ‘the most Ciceronian
FLECKNOE
coxcomb’ in Shadwell’s The Virtuoso. A pompous fool who ‘never speaks without
Flowers of Rhetorick’.
Shadwell is as great a fool as his Sir Formal Trifling, the character in his play.
Line 170 - Till 1678, Shadwell had dedicated five of his nine plays to the Duke or
Duchess of Newcastle. Newcastle is to the north of England. Hence ‘northern
dedications’.
Line 171 - ‘false friends’. Dryden and Shadwell differed on Jonson. Dryden had
tried to correct Shadwell’s opinion of Jonson in vain. So ‘false’ as friend. Notice
the irony. Jonson is ‘hostile’ (Line 172).
Lines 173-1 74 - Parody of Virgil, Aeneid. For ‘Ogleby’, see note to Line 102
above.
Lines 179-180 - The reference is to a ridiculous love-scene in Shadwell’s opera
Psyche, where the heroine (Psyche) sweeps the dust to show her humility.
Line 181 - Dryden echoes Sir Samuel Hearty in The Virtuoso: ‘hold thy peace,
with a whip-stitch, your nose in my breech’. The phrases of this line are all from
Shadwell’s plays.
‘to sell bargains’ meant to make a fool of, to make obscene exchanges in
conversation.
Line 182 - In the dedication to The Virtuoso, Shadwell wrote: ‘I have endeavour’d
in the Play, at Humour, Wit and Satire, I say nothing of impossible, unnatural
Farce Fools, which some intend for comical, who think it the easiest thing in the
world to write a Comedy’. His own promise ‘dwindled to a farce’.
Lines 183-184 - Plagiarism from Fletcher and Etherege is the criticism here. But
the pilferage was unassimilated like oil on waters (Line 185). Dryden referred to
the similarities of situation between Epsom-Wells and Etherege’s She Wou’d if
She Cou’d.
Lines 189-92 - Parodying Shadwell’s Jonsonian definition in the Epilogue to the
Humorists:
A Humor is the Byas of the Mind,
By which with violence its one way inclin’d:
It makes our Actions lean on one side still,
And in all changes that way bends ‘the Will.
Line 194 - ‘likeness’ to Jonson. Tympany: ‘A kind of obstructed flatulence that
swells the body like a drum’ (Johnson).
Lines 195-196 - A Tun of Man: like Falstaff (Henry IV). Kilderkin: fourth part of
a tun.
Lines 284-208 - Varieties of ‘false wit’. Poems in shapes were common in the
seventeenth century. George Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’ and ‘The Altar’ are famous
examples.
An anagram is a change in a word from a transposition of letters. An acrostic is a
164 short poem in which the initial letters of the lines spell a word.
Lines 212-213 - In The Virtuoso, Bruce and Longvil, ‘Gentlemen of wit and Mac Flecknoe:
Summary and explanations
sense’ dispose of the rhetorical amorist Sir Formal through a trap-door in the
very midst of flight of eloquence.
Lines 215 -217 - Parody of 2 Kings (The Bible). But whereas Elijah’s mantle fell
from him as he went up to heaven in the whirlwind, Flecknoe’s is returned from
below.
Check Your Progress
a) Comment critically on the dramatic significance of the following lines:
“All human things are subject to decay
And when Fate summons, monarchs must obey”
........................................................................................................................

b) Explain briefly what Dryden suggests in the following lines:

“Shadwell alone my perfect image bears
Mature in dullness from his tender years”
........................................................................................................................

c) Comment briefly on the following lines:

“The hoary prince in majesty appeared
High on a throne of his own labours reared”
........................................................................................................................

d) Discuss briefly the satiric effect created by the following lines:

“Success let others teach, learn thou from me
Pangs without birth and fruitless industry”
........................................................................................................................

e) Discuss the dramatic importance of the following lines:

“The mantle fell to the young poet’s part
With double portion of his father’s art”
........................................................................................................................

3.4 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we read a detailed summary of Mac Flecknoe with relevant quotations.
We followed this up by explaining lines from the poem, bringing in all the
references made by the poet to convey his thoughts and feelings. We saw that
Mac Flecknoe is the finest short satirical poem in which Dryden has treated
Thomas Shadwell with humorous contempt. The poem opens with Richard
Flecknoe (whose name has already become a synonym for a fool), the poet-king
of the kingdom of Nonsense deciding to abdicate the throne and to find a worthy
successor. His choice falls upon Shadwell as, among all his (literary) sons, 165
JOHN DRYDEN : MAC Shadwell is the fittest as he is the unparalleled poet of dullness. Mac Flecknoe
FLECKNOE
then goes on to deliver a speech on the merits of his son, Shadwell (or should we
say, the lack of merits) during the coronation. The poem develops into a barely
concealed, condemnation of both Shadwell’s literary credentials as well as his
character. The descriptions Dryden offers only serve the purpose of highlighting
the incompetency of Shadwell and create the image of a fool ruling over peasants.
The poem ends with the prophecy that Shadwell would write weak verse, bad
plays and ineffective satires. He is advised to set his own songs to music and sing
them. As Flecknoe speaks, he is sent crashing through a trap door and his mantle
falls on Shadwell, symbolizing the passing on of the legacy of Nonsense.

3.5 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

a) These opening lines of Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe are dramatically significant
because they set the mock-heroic tone of the entire poem. These lines set up
a very serious tone in which all the human beings are described as mortal,
and the ponderous truth that when the call of Death comes, even Kings have
to respond. But the elevated tone of the couplet crashes once Flecknoe emerges
with his “realms of absolute Nonsense”. This couplet, therefore, raises the
expectations of the readers which are later on only denied ironically.
b) Dryden exposes the confirmed stupidity of Shadwell in these lines when
Flecknoe is described here as positively admitting that of all his sons it is
only Shadwell who resembles him perfectly as being dull and stupid right
from his tender years.
c) These lines describe ironically the actual place where Shadwell is to be
crowned as the successor of Flecknoe. The “hoary prince” is Flecknoe himself,
and throne prepared for Shadwell is one made up of the books of Flecknoe.
So the mock-heroic satire of Dryden continues even here. The “prince”,
“majesty” and “throne” conjure images of grandeur which do not match the
satiric story being narrated.
d) The satiric effect created here by these lines is indeed pungent. Here Shadwell
is given a unique, unconventional blessing in which Flecknoe desires him to
learn from him how to produce “pangs without birth” and “fruitless industry”.
In a way, Flecknoe is actually asking Shadwell to be fruitless in his literary
creations.
e) The dramatic importance of these concluding lines is immense. Contrary to
the opening couplet which started on a highly serious note, this concluding
couplet ends with an anticlimactic bang. The last words of Flecknoe are
scarcely heard as he suddenly falls in the trap-door which opens below his
feet. But as Flecknoe falls, his woollen garment is carried upwards by a
sudden gust of wind. This is the ‘mantle’ that falls on Shadwell, and he inherits
from his father a stupidity which is two times more than that of Flecknoe.
The stupidity of Flecknoe has only been doubled in the absurdity of Mac
Flecknoe, and the lampoon Mac Flecknoe has reached its culminating point.

3.6 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1. Why is Shadwell compared to an oak tree and why is he called the prophet of
166 tautology?
2. Do you think that the many literary references detract from or strengthen the Mac Flecknoe:
Summary and explanations
poem? Elucidate.
3. In lines 64-93, Dryden describes the scene of Sh_____’s coronation. How is
the location of the throne and the environment significant and how do they
characterise the main characters of the poem?
4. In the section (lines 94-138) which describes the coronation, how does Dryden
describe the occasion with all its details to heighten the sense of irony?

3.7 SUGGESTED READING

1. Abrams, MH, Stephen Greenblatt, Julia Reidhead (eds). The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2 (WW Norton & Co Inc. first published
1962)
2. Collins, JC (ed.) The Satires of Dryden (Macmillan, 1905)
3. Combe, Kirk. “But Loads of Sh— Almost Choked the Way”: Shadwell,
Dryden, Rochester, and the Summer of 1676,” Texas Studies in Language
and Literature 37 (Summer 1995): 127-164
4. Doren, Mark Van. The Poetry of John Dryden (Harcourt, Brace and Howe,
1931)
5. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-dryden
6. Jack, Ian. Augustan Satire (1952)

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