Dryden's Epilogue: I Need to Eat

Poets, like disputants when reasons fail,
Have one sure refuge left, and that's to rail.
Fop, coxcomb, fool, are thundered through the pit,
And his is all their equipage of wit.
We wonder how the devil this difference grows
Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours i prose;
For, 'faith, the quarrel rightly understood,
'Tis civil war with their own flesh and blood.
The threadbare author hates the gaudy coat,
And swears at the gilt coach, but swears afoot;
For 'tis observed of every scribbling man,
He grows a fop as fast as e'er he can

The epilogue to Dryden's All for Love play (a knock off, of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra) does something very interesting. Clearly Dryden is aware that his play might not be original but he makes the plea that he is doing is best. Dryden defends himself (and seemingly other writers because he uses the plural "poets" but he could just be generalizing to throw some of the criticism off of himself) and his work here saying he has /one sure refuge left, and that's to rail/ (line 2). The word "rail" meaning to protest or to make a  complaint against something. It seems that Dryden feels deeply about the criticism he and his work was subjected to. And it seems that he dwells on this idea a lot because he says, /'tis civil war with their own flesh and blood/ (8). The next two lines speak to the inner turmoil even more, /The threadbare author hates the gaudy coat, / And swear at the gilt coach but swears afoot/ (9-10). This image of a poor writer in tattered clothes swearing at a passing carriage is pretty bleak. Dryden was lucky enough to be recognized in his time and be paid for his efforts, but this epilogue might shed some light on the situation. Critics of his era, and us now, may judge him for his lackluster Shakespeare attempts, but there is a possibility that Dryden did what he had to do for a meal. Did his direction of the theater really reflect his personal desires? This narrative of an artist being directed to direct is so present in our time (Korean musicians come to mind first) that maybe we should give him a bit of a break.

Still not a fan of his work, but I will not fault anyone for needing a hot meal and a gilt coach of their own.