Public Writer Disguised: John Dryden’s Attitude Towards the Glorious Revolution and Its Implicit Expression in Don Sebastian

As a result of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, James II was exiled and replaced by the Protestant monarch William III, and John Dryden consequently lost his position as Poet Laureate. He did not, however, retire from writing, but instead devoted himself to his literary activity with even greater intensity than before. Although Dryden was offi cially marginalized as a writer, he continued to use his literary oeuvre to comment on contemporary political events after the Revolution and to convey implicit messages addressed to the new monarch. The present paper examines John Dryden’s attitude toward the Glorious Revolution and his implicit critique of it, as well as of the reign of William of Orange, in his play Don Sebastian.