183:, the following month. Dennis' forensic skills as a critic enabled him to critique the flaws in the far younger poet's observations, intended to show "that as there is a great deal of venom in this little gentleman's temper, nature has very wisely corrected it with a great deal of dullness … as there is no creature in nature so venomous, there is nothing so stupid and so impotent as a hunch-back'd toad; and a man must be very quiet and very passive, and stand still to let him fasten his teeth and his claws, or to be supriz'd sleeping by him, before that animal can have any power to hurt him." Lacerating pamphlets followed on both sides, culminating in Pope's
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in 1693, giving an account of crossing the Alps where, contrary to his prior feelings for the beauty of nature as a "delight that is consistent with reason", the experience of the journey was at once a "pleasure to the eye as music is to the ear", but "mingled with
Horrours, and sometimes almost with
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However, Dennis's day as a leading figure on the London literary scene was over. He gained the nickname of "Furius", while his enthusiasm for the terrible sublime was mocked. The apocryphal tale regarding his petitioning the Duke of
Marlborough to have a special clause inserted in the Treaty of
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Dennis appears to have reached a turning point in 1704, when, at the age of 47 he withdrew from city life. In the years following this he appears to have become increasingly marginalised, both from new developments in cultural life, and from a new generation on the literary scene. His Essay on
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term primarily relevant to literary criticism, was used to describe a positive appreciation for horror and terror in aesthetic experience, in contrast to Ashley Cooper, The Third Earl of
Shaftesbury's more timid response to the sublime.
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274:'s essays on Pope and Addison in the Quarrels of Authors, and On the Influence of a Bad Temper in Criticism in Calamities of Authors; for a contemporary account see the Preface and Introduction to Edward Niles Hooker's
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Utrecht to secure him from French vengeance, if true, suggests growing paranoia. (Marlborough joked that although he had been a still greater enemy of the French nation, he had no fear for his own security!)
259:(2 volumes) in 1718, and Miscellaneous Tracts, the first volume only of which appeared, in 1727. Although Johnson was to call for a complete edition of Dennis' works, this was not undertaken until 1938.
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Italian Opera in 1706 argues that the introspection encouraged by the sensuality of music, but particularly
Italian opera, is harmful to public spirit at a time of war. In 1711 he fell out with both
206:(1713) returned to this subject, and while Dennis' motivation may have been partly personally motivated, his criticism remains acute and sensible, and is quoted at considerable length by
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67:, where he took his B.A. degree in 1679. In the next year he was fined and dismissed from his college for having wounded a fellow student with a sword. He was, however, received at
248:. A benefit performance was organised at the Haymarket (18 December 1733) on his behalf, for which Pope wrote an ill-natured prologue, which the actor and sentimental playwright
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procured him a place as one of the queen's waiters in the customs with a salary of £20 a year. This he afterwards disposed of for a small sum, retaining, at the suggestion of
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Dennis outlived his annuity from the customs, and his last years were spent in great poverty. Bishop
Atterbury sent him money, and he received a small sum annually from Sir
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237:, and Addison repudiated any connivance in this attack, and indirectly notified Dennis that when he did answer his objections, it would be without personalities.
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The
Grounds of Criticism in Poetry (1704), in which he argued that the ancients owed their superiority over the moderns in poetry to their religious attitude.
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and the leading literary figures of his day; and being made temporarily independent by inheriting a small fortune, he devoted himself to literature. The
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Letters upon
Several Occasions written by and between Mr. Dryden, Mr. Wycherley, Mr. Moyle, Mr. Congreve and Mr Dennis, published by Mr Dennis (1696).
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Essay upon
Publick Spirit (1711), in which he inveighs against luxury, and servile imitation of foreign fashions and customs.
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252:(another victim of Pope's invective) recited. Dennis died within three weeks of this performance, on 6 January 1734.
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seized the opportunity to respond on
Addison's behalf "venting his malice under the show of friendship", with
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Dennis is best remembered as the leading critic of his generation, and as a pioneer of the concept of the
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in April 1711, over an essay that contained a good-humoured rejection of the notion of poetic justice in
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233:(1713). The pamphlet was full of personal abuse, exposing Dennis's foibles, but offered no defence of
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The
Narrative of Dr. Robert Norris, concerning the strange and deplorable frenzy of John Dennis ...
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107:(1709), he invented a new kind of thunder. The play was not a success and the management of the
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One of his tragedies, a violent attack on the French in harmony with popular prejudice, entitled
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despair." The significance of his account is that the concept of the sublime, at the time a
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After travelling in France and Italy, he settled in London, where he became acquainted with
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The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry (1701), perhaps his most important work.
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Reflections Critical and Satirical upon a late Rhapsody Called, an Essay upon Criticism
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published mid-May 1711, having "attacked wantonly", and provoking Dennis'
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Samuel Johnson regarded Pope as the instigator of the latter dispute, his
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Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare in Three Letters (1712).
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of the Alps he published his comments in a journal letter published as
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thunder, by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my play.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage
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there Dennis found the thunder produced by his method and said,
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Remarks ... (1696), on Blackmore's epic of Prince Arthur.
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Essay on the Operas after the Italian Manner (1706).
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398:Doran, Robert. "Dennis: Terror and Religion" in
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400:The Theory of the Sublime from Longinus to Kant
402:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
270:, Volume 4; for a nineteenth-century view see
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544:"8 Amusing Stories Behind Common Expressions"
432:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
111:withdrew it. But later at a performance of
32:(16 September 1657 – 6 January 1734) was an
146:as an aesthetic quality. After taking the
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262:For a contemporary account of Dennis see
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16:English critic and dramatist (1657–1734)
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429:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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255:Dennis' works were published in 1702,
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652:English dramatists and playwrights
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667:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
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572:The Critical Works of John Dennis
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420:Pritchard, Jonathan (2004).
223:Life and Writings of Addison
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464:A Cambridge Alumni Database
368:Orpheus and Eurydice (1707)
194:Dennis had fallen out with
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423:"Dennis, John (1658–1734)"
381:The Invader of His Country
357:The Merry Wives of Windsor
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460:"Dennis, John (DNS675J)"
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65:Caius College, Cambridge
25:1734 engraving of Dennis
618:Encyclopædia Britannica
362:Liberty Asserted (1704)
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384:(1719) (adaptation of
355:(1702) (adaptation of
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570:Edward Niles Hooker,
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682:Writers from London
373:Appius and Virginia
352:The Comical Gallant
104:Appius and Virginia
88:Duke of Marlborough
574:; Baltimore, 1939.
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520:Why Do We Say ...?
341:Rinaldo and Armida
333:A Plot and No Plot
268:Lives of the Poets
177:Essay on Criticism
109:Drury Lane Theatre
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586:, pp. 44–45.
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204:Remarks upon Cato
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556:18 December
516:Rees, Nigel
30:John Dennis
646:Categories
448:required.)
407:References
386:Coriolanus
148:Grand Tour
80:Wycherley
41:dramatist
518:(1987).
157:rhetoric
132:Brewer's
121:That is
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635:at the
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210:in his
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196:Addison
185:Dunciad
144:sublime
137:thunder
114:Macbeth
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