When my study of the "normative basis" of Absalom and Achitophel first appeared, it challenged the prevailing interpretation of the poem by arguing that Aristotelian hylomorphism provides a basis for structuring references to the begetting of sons, that the contrasting father-son pairs were...

The poet John Dryden used Giovanni Battista della Porta's explanation of physiognomy, the study of perceiving people's characters through their physical features, to help the readers of 'Absalom and Achitophel' recognize how humanity's foolish and corrupt actions recur throughout history. The characters' bodies and...

In the following excerpt, Greenfield observes that a marked ambiguity in Dryden's poem Absalom and Achitophel reflects the confusion and changing attitudes toward sexual biology, succession, and the monarchy which occurred during his era.

In the following excerpt, Donnelly demonstrates that in Absalom and Achitophel, Dryden relied upon humanist and Aristotelian theories to defend Charles's fitness as a monarch without condoning Charles's behavior as a man.