John Dennis
John Dennis was a notable literary critic and playwright born in London in 1658. He received a classical education at Harrow and later attended Caius College, Cambridge, where he earned an M.A. in 1683. Despite a tumultuous academic career and a contentious relationship with his family, Dennis made significant contributions to literary criticism, particularly through his exploration of themes related to the sublime. His writings revealed a strong disdain for the French, influenced by his travels in Europe.
Dennis sought to establish himself as a writer and critiqued contemporaries, including a notable dispute with poet laureate John Dryden. His publication "Britannia Triumphans" in 1704 gained him financial stability and allowed him to secure a court position. While his plays did not achieve commercial success, he is credited with coining the phrase "steal my thunder," which refers to his invention of a sound effect for dramatic productions. Throughout his career, Dennis championed modern writers like Shakespeare and Milton, advocating for their recognition and significance in the literary canon. Despite his struggles, including a period in debtors' prison, Dennis's legacy remains influential in the evolution of literary criticism. He passed away in 1734, leaving behind a complex legacy marked by both his critical insights and personal trials.
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John Dennis
Critic
- Born: September 16, 1658
- Birthplace: London, England
- Died: January 6, 1734
Biography
Literary critic John Dennis was born in London in 1658. His father was a saddler. Dennis had a thorough classical education at Harrow from former Eton teacher Dr. William Horne. Dennis entered Caius College, Cambridge, in 1675 but was asked to leave after an altercation with a fellow student. Dennis moved to Trinity Hall. In 1683, Dennis earned an M.A. from Cambridge. Following a dispute with his mother over his inheritance from an uncle, Dennis traveled to the continent with Cambridge classmate Lord Francis Seymour. Dennis’s writings from the trip betrayed his dislike of the French. Dennis also wrote about the sublime, and in doing so he revealed nascent aesthetic themes that would become central to his later literary criticism.
With money running out, Dennis sought to develop a career as a writer. Two works by Dennis may have been attempts to ingratiate himself to England’s poet laureate, John Dryden. Dennis aimed contempt at one of Dryden’s critics in the 1693 publication, The Impartial Critick: Or, Some Observations upon a Late Book Entitul’d “A Short View of Tragedy, Written by Mr. Rymer,” Dennis also produced an unfavorable review of Remarks on a Book Entitul’d “Prince Arthur: An Heroick Poem,” with some General Critical Observations and Several New Remarks upon Virgil, in 1696. Britannia Triumphans published in 1704, was military account that did well financially. The publication also permitted Dennis to lobby for a small court position that was a source of additional annual income.
Dennis’s efforts as a playwright were unimpressive. His legacy from the theater may have been that he coined the phrase, “Steal my thunder.” Dennis improved a device that created thunder sound effects and complained that the contribution was more appreciated than his plays. He was purported to have heard the device in employ at someone else’s play when he lamented the irony.
Dennis was, however, an important proponent of then-modern writers. He extolled Shakespeare and Milton as writers who had broken new ground, and he argued that Milton’s Paradise Lost should be accorded attention in his own right. Dennis justified his partial rejection of classical writers when he wrote that they lacked the perspective that the Reformation had bestowed on modern writers. The 1712 An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakespear, with Some Letters of Criticism to the Spectator left little doubt about the assessment Dennis made of Shakespeare. Alexander Pope’s poor review of the Dennis 1709 play Appius and Virginia: A Tragedy as It Is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane by Her Majesty’s Sworn Servants, lead to bad blood between the critics. Pope lampooned Dennis and thinly disguised him as “Sir Tremendous” in a 1717 Pope play. Dennis was put in debtors prison in 1713 but found some money in 1716 when he sold the court position he had been awarded in 1704. Dennis died poor in 1734.