He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,

But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

~ John Dryden

Today marks the birth of one of the most influential poets in literary history: John Dryden.  In fact, the English poet, born in 1631, was so influential during the time of England’s Restoration that literary circles began to call this era the Age of Dryden.  

One of fourteen children, Dryden became a great poet and leading playwright - creating both comedies and heroic tragedies.  He lived during the time of the Great Plague of London and the Great Fire of London, and his writings on the latter was a crucial factor in him becoming England’s Poet Laureate in 1667.

The great Scottish writer, Sir Walter Scott, who was born more than a century after Dryden, called the English poet “Glorious John”.   Dryden is buried in Westminster Abbey.