Religio Laici

Religio Laici, Or A Layman's Faith (1682) is a poem by John Dryden, published as a premise to his subsequent The Hind and the Panther (1687), a final outcome of his conversion to Roman Catholicism.[1]

Religio Laici
AuthorJohn Dryden
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreReligious poem
PublisherJacob Tonson
Publication date
1682
Media typePrint (Hardback)

The poet argues for the credibility of the Christian religion and against Deism, and for the Anglican Church against that of Rome.[2]

Excerpt

These are the last couplets of the poem:

Thus have I made my own Opinions clear:
Yet neither Praise expect, nor Censure fear:
And this unpolish'd, rugged Verse I chose;
As fittest for Discourse, and nearest prose:
For while from Sacred Truth I do not swerve,
Tom Sternhold's or Tom Sha—ll's Rhimes will serve.[3]

— lines 451-456

English courtier Thomas Sternhold (1500–1549) was the principal author of the first English metrical version of the Psalms, originally attached to the Prayer-Book and which first appeared in 1549. Their popularity was due more to the subject matter than to their poetic style. Thomas Shadwell (1642-1692) was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.[4]

Notes
  1. Complete facsimile in Googlebooks. Cf. also facsimile reproduction of 1682 ed., J. Dryden, Religio Laici, Or, a Laymans Faith a Poem. (1682), EEBO Editions (2010).
  2. S. N. Zwicker, The Cambridge Companion to John Dryden, Cambridge University Press (2004).
  3. Dryden, John (1913). Sargeaunt, John (ed.). The Poems of John Dryden. Oxford University Press. p. 105.
  4. Cf. also Luminarium on John Dryden's poems.


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