John Dryden was the oldest of 14 children and was a well-known poet of the neoclassical times. John Dryden has written a lot of poems. one of his many poems is Happy the man. Happy the man was written during the 1700s. This poem is much shorter than many of his others, with only 1 stanza, however the subject is clearly seen as happiness and the theme to where John Dryden is explaining that he is happy with his life and that he is living for today.
To start off, the poem begins with the lines “Happy the man and happy he alone, he who can call today his own” (lines 1-2). The word “happy” is repeatedly used even within only the first 2 lines. This is John Dryden expressing the subject of the poem at the very beginning. The poem has regular rhythm and rhyme too. Happy the man is similar to a limerick. Limericks are very short and have rhythm and rhyme. For example, “alone”, “own”, “shine” and, “mine”. This poem seems like a mini song where a man is riding a horse and is singing as he gallops away. Anyway, these are examples of rhyme in Happy the Man, and the literary devices the author has used.
Moving on, basically all lines of the poem reveal the theme in some way. We can also see the theme shown in the title. The title is ‘“Happy the man” and the poem is all about a man being happy. This has poem 8 lines, all which reveal the theme. For example, “tomorrow do thy worst, for I lived today” (line 4). This line is saying that it doesn’t matter what happens tomorrow because the narrator has lived well today. Another line similar to the previous one is “not heaven itself upon the past has power”. Both lines talk about time. This line shows the author explaining that we should not worry about the past because nothing can change it, not even the powers of heaven.
John Dryden ends his poem with “but what has been, has been, and I have had my hour” (line8). How many people waste their time worrying about the past? Live for today! The theme is shown once again! Another line, is “The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine” (line 6). This meaning, nobody can take away his joy, no matter where fate leads him, into the future. In this poem we can see many words referring to time and how the author has connected happiness and joy with time.
Overall, John Dryden has communicated his theme through the content and lines of the poem. Literary devices, theme, and subject can all be found in Happy the Man. The author has explained that he is happy with his life and is living for today. This is a great poem with a great message! Thank you, John Dryden!
Mohapatra, Ruta, et al. “Happy The Man.” PoemHunter.com, John Dryden , 1 Jan. 2004,