John Dennis (playwright)

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John Dennis (* 1657 in London ; † January 6, 1734 ) was an English playwright and critic .

John Dennis studied at Harrow School in London, and at Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge, where he graduated in 1679 (Bachelor of Arts). He made many study trips to France and Italy , after which he devoted himself to literature , especially drama . When he criticized Joseph Addison ( Cato , 1713) and Alexander Popes ( The Rape of the Lock , 1712), he earned a place in Alexander Pope's work ( The Dunciad , 1728), a merciless reckoning to Pope's critics. It was also Dennis subject of a sarcastic essay which Pope together with Jonathan Swift published.

When Dennis had financial problems, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough helped him a job as a waiter to Queen Mary II. He also received a small annual pension from Robert Walpole . On December 18, 1733, the administration of the Haymarket Theater organized a benefit for Dennis , for which his former opponent Alexander Pope wrote the prologue .

His works appeared collected in London 1697–1720, his "Select works" (London 1718, 2 vols.)