John Dryden by Sir Godfrey Kneller

Absalom and Achitophel is a landmark poetic political satire by John Dryden. The poem exists in two parts. The first part, of 1681, is undoubtedly by Dryden. The second part, of 1682, was written by another hand, most likely Nahum Tate, except for a few passages—including attacks on Thomas Shadwell and Elkanah Settle, expressed as Og and Doeg—that Dryden wrote himself.

The poem is an allegory that uses the story of the rebellion of Absalom against King David as the basis for discussion of the background to the Monmouth Rebellion (1685), the Popish Plot (1678) and the Exclusion Crisis.

Biblical Background[link]

The story of Absalom's revolt is told in the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Bible (chapters 14 to 18). Absalom rebels against his father King David. The beautiful Absalom is distinguished by extraordinarily abundant hair, which is probably meant to symbolize his pride (2 Sam. 14:26). When David's renowned advisor, Achitophel (Achitophel in the Vulgate) joins Absalom's rebellion, another advisor, Hushai, plots with David to pretend to defect and give Absalom advice that plays into David's hands. The result was that Absalom takes the advice of the double agent Hushai over the good advice of Achitophel, who realizing that the rebellion is doomed to failure, goes home and hangs himself. Absalom is killed (against David's explicit commands) after getting caught by his hair in the thick branches of a great oak: "His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on" (NRSV 2 Sam. 18:9). The death of his son, Absalom, causes David enormous personal grief. The title of Faulkner's novel Absalom, Absalom! is taken from David's mourning in 2 Sam. 18:33 or 19:4.

Historical Background[link]

In 1681 in England, Charles II was in advanced years. He had had a number of mistresses and produced a number of illegitimate children. One of these was James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth, who was very popular, both for his personal charisma and his fervor for the Protestant cause. Charles had no legitimate heirs, and his brother, the future James II of England was openly a Roman Catholic.^[1] When Charles's health suffered, there was a panic in the House of Commons over the potential for the nation being ruled by a Roman Catholic king.^{[citation needed]} The Earl of Shaftesbury had sponsored and advocated the Exclusion Bill, which would prevent James II from succeeding to the throne, but this bill was blocked by the House of Lords on two occasions. In the Spring of 1681, at the Oxford Parliament, Shaftesbury appealed to Charles II to legitimate Monmouth. Monmouth was caught preparing to rebel and seek the throne, and Shaftesbury was suspected of fostering this rebellion. The poem was written, possibly at Charles's behest, and published in early November 1681.^[2] On November 24, 1681, Shaftesbury was seized and charged with high treason. A trial before a jury picked by Whig sheriffs acquitted him.^{[citation needed]}

Later, after the death of his father and unwilling to see his uncle James II become King, the Duke of Monmouth executed his plans and went into full revolt. The Monmouth Rebellion was put down, and in 1685 the Duke was executed.^{[citation needed]}

Synopsis[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Absalom and Achitophel

Dryden's poem tells the story of the first foment by making Monmouth into Absalom, the beloved boy, Charles into David (who also had some philandering), and Shaftesbury into Achitophel. It paints Buckingham, an old enemy of Dryden's (see The Rehearsal for one example), into Zimri, the unfaithful servant. The poem places most of the blame for the rebellion on Shaftesbury and makes Charles a very reluctant and loving man who has to be king before father. The poem also refers to some of the Popish Plot furor.^[3]

• 

  Absalom (James Scott, Duke of Monmouth)

• 

  Achitophel (Lord Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury)

• 

  David (Charles II)

Notes[link]

1. ^ Black, Joseph, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume C. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. 2087-88. Print.
2. ^ Black, Joseph, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume C. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006. 2088. Print.
3. ^ Duggan, Margaret. "Absalom and Achitophel." Masterplots, 4th Edition (2010): 1-3. Web. 10 Aug. 2011.

See also[link]

• 1681 in poetry
• 1682 in poetry

External links[link]

• Text, with notes, of the first part of Absalom and Achitophel
• Anti-Achitophel (1682): Three Verse Replies to Absalom and Achitophel at Project Gutenberg

v t e Works by John Dryden Poetry Astraea Redux (1660) Annus Mirabilis (1667) Absalom and Achitophel (1681-82) Mac Flecknoe (1682) Religio Laici (1682) Threnodia Augustalis (1685) The Hind and the Panther (1687) Alexander's Feast (1697) Plays The Wild Gallant (1663) The Indian Emperour (1665) The Tempest (1667) An Evening's Love (1668) Tyrannick Love (1669) The Conquest of Granada (1670) The Assignation (1672) Marriage à la mode (1672) Amboyna (1673) The Mistaken Husband (1674) Aureng-zebe (1675) All for Love (1678) Oedipus (1679) Amphitryon (1690) Essays Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668) Translations Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700) Operas Albion and Albanius (1685) King Arthur (1691)

The Death of Absalom by Gustave Dore

According to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom (Hebrew: אַבְשָלוֹם, Modern Avshalom Tiberian ʼAḇšālôm ; "Father/Leader of/is peace") was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. (1 Chronicles 3:2, 2 Samuel 3:3)

2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom. Absalom eventually rebelled against his father and was killed during the Battle of Ephraim Wood.^[1]

Murder of Amnon[link]

The Banquet of Absalom attributed to Niccolò de Simone around 1650

After his full sister Tamar was raped by Amnon, their half-brother and David's eldest son, Absalom waited two years and avenged her by sending his servants to murder Amnon at a feast to which he had invited all the king's sons. (2 Samuel 13)

After this deed he fled to Talmai, the king of Geshur (2 Samuel 13:37) (see also Joshua 12:5 or 13:2), his maternal grandfather, and it was not until three years later that he was fully reinstated in his father's favour and finally returned to Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 13-14) (see Joab)

The Revolt at Hebron[link]

While at Jerusalem, Absalom built support for himself among the populace by promising justice for all "if only I were appointed judge in the land", and by showing humility by kissing those who approached him rather than accepting supplication.^[2]

Valley of Jehoshaphat and Hinnom Jerusalem. Stairway in Absalom's Pillar; Another view inside Absalom's Pillar

After four years he decided to declare himself king, sleeping with his father's concubines, then raised a revolt at Hebron, the former capital. All Israel and Judah flocked to his side, and David, attended only by the Cherethites and Pelethites and his former body guard that had followed him from Gath, found it expedient to flee. The priests Zadok and Abiathar remained behind in Jerusalem, and their sons Jonathan and Ahimaaz served as David's spies. Absalom reached the capital and took counsel with the renowned Ahithophel (sometimes spelled Achitophel).

David took refuge from Absalom's forces beyond the Jordan River. However, he took the precaution of instructing a servant, Hushai, to infiltrate Absalom's court and subvert it. Hushai convinced Absalom to ignore Ahithophel's advice to attack his father while he was on the run, and instead prepare his forces for a major attack. This gave David critical time to prepare his own troops for the coming battle.

The Battle of Ephraim Wood[link]

A fateful battle was fought in the Wood of Ephraim (the name suggests a locality west of the Jordan) and Absalom's army was completely routed.^[3] Absalom himself was caught by his head in the boughs of an oak-tree as the mule he was riding ran beneath it - an irony given that he was previously renowned for his abundant hair and handsome head. He was discovered hanging there still alive by one of David's men, who reported the matter to Joab, the king's commander. Joab avenged David by fatally striking and killing Absalom, by the use of three spears, followed by a group of swordsmen, an act that caused David great sorrow.

Memorial to Absalom[link]

Another monument near Jerusalem (not the modern "Absalom Tomb" - "Yad Avshalom" which is of later origin) was erected by Absalom in his lifetime to perpetuate his name (2 Samuel 18:18):

"Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a monument, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's monument."

Absalom in art[link]

Fiction[link]

• Georg Christian Lehms, Des israelitischen Printzens Absolons und seiner Prinzcessin Schwester Thamar Staats- Lebens- und Helden-Geschichte ('The Heroic Life and History of the Israelite Prince Absolom and his Princess Sister Tamar'), novel in German published in Nuremberg, 1710
• Absalom, Absalom! is the title of a novel by William Faulkner, and refers to the return of Thomas Sutpen's son.
• Oh Absalom! was the original title of Howard Spring's novel My Son, My Son!, later adapted for the film of the latter name.
• Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Absalom was the name of Stephen Kumalo's son in the novel. Like the historical Absalom, Absalom Kumalo was at odds with his father, the two fighting a moral and ethical battle of sorts over the course of some of the novel's most important events. Absalom kills and murders a man, and also meets an untimely death.
• Ender's Shadow references the story of Absalom and King David's lament. Bean, as he sends his soldiers on a suicide mission to destroy the Buggers, says to them, "O my son Absalom. My son, my son Absalom. Would God I could die for thee, O Absalom, my son. My sons!"
• Absalom is the name of a short science fiction story by Henry Kuttner about the conflict between a father and son over the son's education.
• Absalom is the name of a character in Eiichiro Oda's manga One Piece during the Thriller Bark arc.
• The character of Absalom appears in Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
• Throughout Robertson Davies's The Manticore a comparison is repeatedly made between the protagonist's problematic relations with his father and those of between the Biblical Absalom and King David. (Paradoxically, in the modern version it is the rebellious son who has the first name "David".) The book also introduces the term "Absalonism", as a generic term for a son's rebellion against his father.
• Absalom is the name of a comedic character in "The Miller's Tale" in the Canterbury Tales.
• The character of Absalom appears in Michael Cook's The Head Guts and Sound Bone Dance
• Absalom is the name of a character in Michael Crummey's Newfoundland-set Galore.
• Absalom is also the oldest and most powerful alliance in the first textbased game on internet called Utopia - World of Legends and holds Kingdoms as Equilibrium, Mercy, Sanctuary and Rage of Absalom.
• Absalom is the name given to the caterpillar by screenwriter Linda Woolverton in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland," directed by Tim Burton.
• Absalom's attempted coup against his father David is explored in the novel "Zoheleth" by J Francis Hudson (Lion Publishing 1994) .

Music[link]

• Josquin des Prez composed the motet "Absalon, fili mi" on the occasion of the death of Juan Borgia.
• Leonard Cohen's poem "Prayer for Sunset" compares the setting sun to the raving Absalom, and asks whether another Joab will arrive tomorrow night to kill Absalom again.
• Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) composed "Fili mi, Absalon" as part of his Sinfoniae Sacrae, op.6
• The single verse, 2 Samuel 19:1, regarding David's grief at the loss of his son ("And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!"), is the inspiration for the text of several pieces of choral music, usually entitled When David Heard (such as those by Renaissance composers Thomas Tomkins and Thomas Weelkes, or American composers Eric Whitacre, Joshua Shank, and Norman Dinerstein). This verse is also featured in William Billing's popular Sacred Harp song "David's Lamentation", first published in 1778. Also, "Absalom, Absalom Would I die for you my son, I would have it all undone, The way it all came down" is found on the 1998 album Largo in the song "Gimme A Stone".
• "Absalom, Absalom" is the title of a song on the 1996 Compass CD Making Light of It by singer/songwriter Pierce Pettis, incorporating several elements of the biblical narrative.
• The Australian composer Nigel Butterley set the verse in his 2008 choral work "Beni Avshalom", commissioned by the Sydney Chamber Choir
• During the finale of the song Distant Early Warning by Canadian band Rush, Geddy Lee sings, "Absalom Absalom Absalom." Lyrics written by drummer Neil Peart.
• David Olney's 2000 CD Omar's Blues includes the song "Absalom." The song depicts David grieving over the death of his son.
• The story of Absalom is referred to several places in folk singer Adam Arcuragi's song "Always Almost Crying."
• The San Francisco-based band Om mentions Absalom in their song "Kapila's Theme" from their debut album Variations on a Theme.
• The garage folk band David's Doldrums [1] references Absalom in their song, "my name is Absalom." The song alludes to Absalom's feelings of solemnity and abandonment of love and hope.
• In "Every Kind Word" by Lackthereof, Danny Seim's project parallel to Menomena, Seim sings "...and your hair is long like Absalom."
• "Barach Hamelech" an Israeli song by Amos Etinger and Yosef Hadar.
• The grindcore band Discordance Axis references Absalom at the end of the track entitled Castration Rite.
• The Progressive Metal band from Barranquilla, Colombia, Absalom has his name.^[4]
• 2007 Ryland Angel released "Absalom" on Ryland Angel - Manhattan Records ^[5]
• "Hanging By His Hair" from the 1998 WORMWOOD album by The Residents recounts Absalom's defiance and death. Also performed on Roadworms (The Berlin Sessions) and Wormwood Live.^[6]
• "Absalom" is a song on Brand New Shadows's debut album, White flags. It is a mournful lament from King David's perspective.^[7]
• "Absalom" is an album by the Experimental/Progressive band "Stick Men" featuring Tony Levin, Markus Reuter and Pat Mastelotto.

Videogames[link]

• In Darksiders II, Absalom was the leader of a Old Race known as the Nephilim. When Mankind was given the prize of Eden, Absalom led his armies against Heaven and Hell in an attempt to steal it back.

References[link]

1. ^ 2 Samuel 14:25
2. ^ Bible Gateway
3. ^ 2 Samuel 16-18
4. ^ http://karmametalcolombian.blogspot.com/2008/04/absalom-absalom-colombian-2003.html
5. ^ http://www.rylandangel.com/
6. ^ http://residents.com/historical/page0/page20/page20.html
7. ^ Brand New Shadows

External links[link]

•  "Absalom". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. 

John Dryden
Born	(1631-08-09)9 August 1631 Aldwincle, Thrapston, Northamptonshire, England
Died	1 May 1700(1700-05-01) (aged 68) London, England
Occupation	poet, literary critic, playwright
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Notable work(s)	Absalom and Achitophel, MacFlecknoe

John Dryden (9 August 1631 – 1 May 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him "Glorious John."^[1] He was made Poet Laureate in 1668.

Early life[link]

Dryden was born in the village rectory of Aldwincle near Thrapston in Northamptonshire, where his maternal grandfather was Rector of All Saints. He was the eldest of fourteen children born to Erasmus Dryden and wife Mary Pickering, paternal grandson of Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet (1553–1632) and wife Frances Wilkes, Puritan landowning gentry who supported the Puritan cause and Parliament. He was also a second cousin once removed of Jonathan Swift. As a boy Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire where it is also likely that he received his first education. In 1644 he was sent to Westminster School as a King’s Scholar where his headmaster was Dr Richard Busby, a charismatic teacher and severe disciplinarian.^[2] Having recently been re-founded by Elizabeth I, Westminster during this period embraced a very different religious and political spirit encouraging royalism and high Anglicanism. Whatever Dryden’s response to this was, he clearly respected the Headmaster and would later send two of his own sons to school at Westminster. In the late twentieth century a house at Westminster was founded in his name.

As a humanist public school, Westminster maintained a curriculum which trained pupils in the art of rhetoric and the presentation of arguments for both sides of a given issue. This is a skill which would remain with Dryden and influence his later writing and thinking, as much of it displays these dialectical patterns. The Westminster curriculum also included weekly translation assignments which developed Dryden’s capacity for assimilation. This was also to be exhibited in his later works. His years at Westminster were not uneventful, and his first published poem, an elegy with a strong royalist feel on the death of his schoolmate Henry, Lord Hastings from smallpox, alludes to the execution of King Charles I, which took place on 30 January 1649, very near the school where Dr Busby had first prayed for the King and then locked in his schoolboys to prevent their attending the spectacle.

In 1650 Dryden went up to Trinity College, Cambridge.^[3] Here he would have experienced a return to the religious and political ethos of his childhood: the Master of Trinity was a Puritan preacher by the name of Thomas Hill who had been a rector in Dryden’s home village.^[4] Though there is little specific information on Dryden’s undergraduate years, he would most certainly have followed the standard curriculum of classics, rhetoric, and mathematics. In 1654 he obtained his BA, graduating top of the list for Trinity that year. In June of the same year Dryden’s father died, leaving him some land which generated a little income, but not enough to live on.^[5]

Returning to London during The Protectorate, Dryden obtained work with Cromwell’s Secretary of State, John Thurloe. This appointment may have been the result of influence exercised on his behalf by his cousin the Lord Chamberlain, Sir Gilbert Pickering. At Cromwell’s funeral on 23 November 1658 Dryden processed with the Puritan poets John Milton and Andrew Marvell. Shortly thereafter he published his first important poem, Heroique Stanzas (1658), a eulogy on Cromwell’s death which is cautious and prudent in its emotional display. In 1660 Dryden celebrated the Restoration of the monarchy and the return of Charles II with Astraea Redux, an authentic royalist panegyric. In this work the interregnum is illustrated as a time of anarchy, and Charles is seen as the restorer of peace and order.

Later life and career[link]

After the Restoration, Dryden quickly established himself as the leading poet and literary critic of his day and he transferred his allegiances to the new government. Along with Astraea Redux, Dryden welcomed the new regime with two more panegyrics; To His Sacred Majesty: A Panegyric on his Coronation (1662), and To My Lord Chancellor (1662). These poems suggest that Dryden was looking to court a possible patron, but he was to instead make a living in writing for publishers, not for the aristocracy, and thus ultimately for the reading public. These, and his other nondramatic poems, are occasional—that is, they celebrate public events. Thus they are written for the nation rather than the self, and the Poet Laureate (as he would later become) is obliged to write a certain number of these per annum.^[6] In November 1662 Dryden was proposed for membership in the Royal Society, and he was elected an early fellow. However, Dryden was inactive in Society affairs and in 1666 was expelled for non-payment of his dues.

Portrait of John Dryden by James Maubert, circa 1695

Portrait of John Dryden by Godfrey Kneller, 1698

On 1 December 1663 Dryden married the royalist sister of Sir Robert Howard—Lady Elizabeth. Dryden’s works occasionally contain outbursts against the married state but also celebrations of the same. Thus, little is known of the intimate side of his marriage. Lady Elizabeth however, was to bear him three sons and outlive him.

With the reopening of the theatres after the Puritan ban, Dryden busied himself with the composition of plays. His first play, The Wild Gallant appeared in 1663 and was not successful, but he was to have more success, and from 1668 on he was contracted to produce three plays a year for the King's Company in which he was also to become a shareholder. During the 1660s and 70s theatrical writing was to be his main source of income. He led the way in Restoration comedy, his best known work being Marriage à la Mode (1672), as well as heroic tragedy and regular tragedy, in which his greatest success was All for Love (1678). Dryden was never satisfied with his theatrical writings and frequently suggested that his talents were wasted on unworthy audiences. He thus was making a bid for poetic fame off-stage. In 1667, around the same time his dramatic career began, he published Annus Mirabilis, a lengthy historical poem which described the events of 1666; the English defeat of the Dutch naval fleet and the Great Fire of London. It was a modern epic in pentameter quatrains that established him as the preeminent poet of his generation, and was crucial in his attaining the posts of Poet Laureate (1668) and historiographer royal (1670).

When the Great Plague of London closed the theatres in 1665 Dryden retreated to Wiltshire where he wrote Of Dramatick Poesie (1668), arguably the best of his unsystematic prefaces and essays. Dryden constantly defended his own literary practice, and Of Dramatick Poesie, the longest of his critical works, takes the form of a dialogue in which four characters–each based on a prominent contemporary, with Dryden himself as ‘Neander’—debate the merits of classical, French and English drama. The greater part of his critical works introduce problems which he is eager to discuss, and show the work of a writer of independent mind who feels strongly about his own ideas, ideas which demonstrate the incredible breadth of his reading. He felt strongly about the relation of the poet to tradition and the creative process, and his best heroic play Aureng-zebe (1675) has a prologue which denounces the use of rhyme in serious drama. His play All for Love (1678) was written in blank verse, and was to immediately follow Aureng-Zebe. In 1679 he was attacked in an alley near his home in Covent Garden by thugs hired by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester,^[7] with whom he had a long-standing conflict.^[8]

Dryden's greatest achievements were in satiric verse: the mock-heroic MacFlecknoe, a more personal product of his Laureate years, was a lampoon circulated in manuscript and an attack on the playwright Thomas Shadwell. Dryden's main goal in the work is to "satirize Shadwell, ostensibly for his offenses against literature but more immediately we may suppose for his habitual badgering of him on the stage and in print."^[9] It is not a belittling form of satire, but rather one which makes his object great in ways which are unexpected, transferring the ridiculous into poetry.^[10] This line of satire continued with Absalom and Achitophel (1681) and The Medal (1682). His other major works from this period are the religious poems Religio Laici (1682), written from the position of a member of the Church of England; his 1683 edition of Plutarch's Lives Translated From the Greek by Several Hands in which he introduced the word biography to English readers; and The Hind and the Panther, (1687) which celebrates his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Frontispiece and title page from volume II of a 1716 edition of the Works of Virgil translated by John Dryden.

When in 1688 James was deposed, Dryden’s refusal to take the oaths of allegiance to the new government left him out of favour at court. Thomas Shadwell succeeded him as Poet Laureate, and he was forced to give up his public offices and live by the proceeds of his pen. Dryden translated works by Horace, Juvenal, Ovid, Lucretius, and Theocritus, a task which he found far more satisfying than writing for the stage. In 1694 he began work on what would be his most ambitious and defining work as translator, The Works of Virgil (1697), which was published by subscription. The publication of the translation of Virgil was a national event and brought Dryden the sum of ₤1,400.^[11] His final translations appeared in the volume Fables Ancient and Modern (1700), a series of episodes from Homer, Ovid, and Boccaccio, as well as modernized adaptations from Geoffrey Chaucer interspersed with Dryden’s own poems. The Preface to Fables is considered to be both a major work of criticism and one of the finest essays in English.^{[citation needed]} As a critic and translator he was essential in making accessible to the reading English public literary works in the classical languages.

Dryden died on May 1, 1700, and was initially buried in St. Anne's cemetery in Soho, before being exhumed and reburied in Westminster Abbey ten days later.^[12] He was the subject of various poetic eulogies, such as Luctus Brittannici: or the Tears of the British Muses; for the Death of John Dryden, Esq. (London, 1700), and The Nine Muses.

Reputation and influence[link]

Dryden was the dominant literary figure and influence of his age. He established the heroic couplet as a standard form of English poetry by writing successful satires, religious pieces, fables, epigrams, compliments, prologues, and plays with it; he also introduced the alexandrine and triplet into the form. In his poems, translations, and criticism, he established a poetic diction appropriate to the heroic couplet—Auden referred to him as "the master of the middle style"^[13]—that was a model for his contemporaries and for much of the 18th century. The considerable loss felt by the English literary community at his death was evident from the elegies that it inspired.^[14] Dryden's heroic couplet became the dominant poetic form of the 18th century. The most influential poet of the 18th century, Alexander Pope,^{[citation needed]} was heavily influenced by Dryden, and often borrowed from him; other writers were equally influenced by Dryden and Pope. Pope famously praised Dryden's versification in his imitation of Horace's Epistle II.i: "Dryden taught to join / The varying pause, the full resounding line, / The long majestic march, and energy divine." Samuel Johnson^[15] summed up the general attitude with his remark that "the veneration with which his name is pronounced by every cultivator of English literature, is paid to him as he refined the language, improved the sentiments, and tuned the numbers of English poetry." His poems were very widely read, and are often quoted, for instance, in Tom Jones and Johnson's essays.

Johnson also noted, however, that "He is, therefore, with all his variety of excellence, not often pathetic; and had so little sensibility of the power of effusions purely natural, that he did not esteem them in others. Simplicity gave him no pleasure." The first half of the 18th century did not mind this too much, but in later generations, this was increasingly considered a fault.

One of the first attacks on Dryden's reputation was by Wordsworth, who complained that Dryden's descriptions of natural objects in his translations from Virgil were much inferior to the originals. However, several of Wordsworth’s contemporaries, such as George Crabbe, Lord Byron, and Walter Scott (who edited Dryden's works), were still keen admirers of Dryden. Besides, Wordsworth did admire many of Dryden's poems, and his famous "Intimations of Immortality" ode owes something stylistically to Dryden's "Alexander's Feast". John Keats admired the "Fables," and imitated them in his poem Lamia. Later 19th century writers had little use for verse satire, Pope, or Dryden; Matthew Arnold famously dismissed them as "classics of our prose." He did have a committed admirer in George Saintsbury, and was a prominent figure in quotation books such as Bartlett's, but the next major poet to take an interest in Dryden was T. S. Eliot, who wrote that he was 'the ancestor of nearly all that is best in the poetry of the eighteenth century', and that 'we cannot fully enjoy or rightly estimate a hundred years of English poetry unless we fully enjoy Dryden.'^[16] However, in the same essay, Eliot accused Dryden of having a "commonplace mind." Critical interest in Dryden has increased recently, but, as a relatively straightforward writer (William Empson, another modern admirer of Dryden, compared his "flat" use of language with Donne's interest in the "echoes and recesses of words"^[17]) his work has not occasioned as much interest as Andrew Marvell's or John Donne's or Pope's.^[18]

Dryden is also believed to be the first person to posit that English sentences should not end in prepositions because it was against the rules of Latin grammar.^[19][20] Dryden created the prescription against preposition stranding in 1672 when he objected to Ben Jonson's 1611 phrase the bodies that those souls were frightened from, although he didn't provide an explanation of the rationale that gave rise to his preference.^[21]

Poetic style[link]

What Dryden achieved in his poetry was not the emotional excitement we find in the Romantic poets of the early nineteenth century, nor the intellectual complexities of the metaphysical poets. His subject-matter was often factual, and he aimed at expressing his thoughts in the most precise and concentrated way possible. Although he uses formal poetic structures such as heroic stanzas and heroic couplets, he tried to achieve the rhythms of speech. However, he knew that different subjects need different kinds of verse, and in his preface to Religio Laici he wrote: “...the expressions of a poem designed purely for instruction ought to be plain and natural, yet majestic...The florid, elevated and figurative way is for the passions; for (these) are begotten in the soul by showing the objects out of their true proportion....A man is to be cheated into passion, but to be reasoned into truth.”

Selected works[link]

• Astraea Redux, 1660
• The Wild Gallant (comedy), 1663
• The Indian Emperour (tragedy), 1665
• Annus Mirabilis (poem), 1667
• The Enchanted Island (comedy), 1667, an adaptation with William D'Avenant of Shakespeare's The Tempest
• Secret Love, or The Maiden Queen, 1667
• An Essay of Dramatick Poesie, 1668
• An Evening's Love (comedy), 1668
• Tyrannick Love (tragedy), 1669
• The Conquest of Granada, 1670
• The Assignation, or Love in a Nunnery, 1672
• Marriage à la mode, 1672
• Amboyna, or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants, 1673
• The Mistaken Husband (comedy), 1674
• Aureng-zebe, 1675
• All for Love, 1678
• Oedipus (heroic drama), 1679, an adaptation with Nathaniel Lee of Sophocles' Oedipus
• Absalom and Achitophel, 1681
• The Spanish Fryar, 1681
• MacFlecknoe, 1682
• The Medal, 1682
• Religio Laici, 1682
• Threnodia Augustalis, 1685
• The Hind and the Panther, 1687
• A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1687
• Amphitryon, 1690
• Don Sebastian, 1690
• Creator Spirit, by whose aid, 1690. Translation of Rabanus Maurus' Veni Creator Spiritus ^[22]
• King Arthur, 1691
• Cleomenes, 1692
• Love Triumphant, 1694
• The Works of Virgil, 1697
• Alexander's Feast, 1697
• Fables, Ancient and Modern, 1700
• The Art of Satire
• To the Memory of Mr. Oldham, 1684

Select bibliography[link]

Editions

Biography

Modern criticism

See also[link]

• Translation

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Dryden

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Dryden

Wikisource has original works written by or about: John Dryden

v t e Works by John Dryden Poetry Astraea Redux (1660) Annus Mirabilis (1667) Absalom and Achitophel (1681-82) Mac Flecknoe (1682) Religio Laici (1682) Threnodia Augustalis (1685) The Hind and the Panther (1687) Alexander's Feast (1697) Plays The Wild Gallant (1663) The Indian Emperour (1665) The Tempest (1667) An Evening's Love (1668) Tyrannick Love (1669) The Conquest of Granada (1670) The Assignation (1672) Marriage à la mode (1672) Amboyna (1673) The Mistaken Husband (1674) Aureng-zebe (1675) All for Love (1678) Oedipus (1679) Amphitryon (1690) Essays Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668) Translations Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700) Operas Albion and Albanius (1685) King Arthur (1691)

v t e English Restoration Comedy Playwrights Aphra Behn Susanna Centlivre Colley Cibber William Congreve John Dryden George Etherege George Farquhar Edward Howard James Howard Robert Howard Thomas Otway Charles Sedley Thomas Shadwell Thomas Southerne Richard Steele John Vanbrugh George Villiers William Wycherley Notable Plays The Mulberry-Garden (1668) The Rehearsal (1671) Marriage à la mode (1672) The Country Wife (1675) The Plain-Dealer (1676) The Man of Mode (1676) The Rover (1677) Sodom (1684) Bellamira (1687) Love's Last Shift (1696) The Relapse (1696) The Way of the World (1700) The Recruiting Officer (1706) The Beaux' Stratagem (1707) A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717) Characters Beau Fop Gay couple Spark Rake Related People Charles II Jeremy Collier Thomas Hobbes Marquis de Sade Molière James II Georg Monck John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester Related articles Bedlam Chocolate houses Comedy of manners Court Drury Lane Fleet Prison Hedonism The Libertine (1994) The Libertine (film) Libertinism Lincoln's Inn Fields Mode Restoration of Charles II Second Anglo-Dutch War Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage Wit

Wesley Snipes
Snipes in September 2009
Born	Wesley Trent Snipes (1962-07-31) July 31, 1962 (age 49) Orlando, Florida, United States
Occupation	Actor, martial artist, film producer
Years active	1986–2010
Spouse	April Dubois (1985–1990) Nikki Park (2003–present)
Children	5

Wesley Trent Snipes (born July 31, 1962) is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist, who has starred in numerous films, thrillers, and dramatic feature films. Snipes is known for playing the Marvel Comics character Blade in the Blade film trilogy, among various other high profile roles. Snipes formed a production company, Amen-Ra Films, in 1991 and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since age 12, earning a high ranking 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and 2nd dan black belt in Hapkido.^[1] He has also trained as a student of Capoeira^[1] under Mestre Jelon Vieira and in a number of other disciplines including various styles of kung fu^[2] and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. As of 2012^[update] Snipes is serving a prison sentence for misdemeanor failure to file U.S. federal income tax returns.^[3]

Early life[link]

Snipes was born in Orlando, Florida, the son of Marian, a teacher's assistant, and Wesley R. Snipes, an aircraft engineer.^[4] He grew up in The Bronx, New York City. He attended P.S. 132, an elementary school in the Bronx. Snipes graduated from I.S. 131, a middle school in the Bronx, and also attended the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing, but moved back to Florida before he could graduate. After graduating from Jones High School in Orlando,^[5] Snipes returned to New York and attended the State University of New York at Purchase, before being asked to leave his junior year. Snipes also attended Southwest College in Los Angeles.

Martial Arts Training[link]

Snipes began training in martial arts when he was 12 years old. He has a 5th dan black belt in Shotokan karate and a 2nd degree black belt in Hapkido. He also practices some different styles of kung fu, capoeira, eskrima and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Career[link]

Acting and rise to fame[link]

At age 23, Snipes was discovered by an agent while performing in a competition. He made his film debut in the 1986 Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats. Later that year he appeared on the TV show Miami Vice as a drug-dealing pimp in the episode "Streetwise" (first aired December 5, 1986). In 1987, he appeared as Michael Jackson's nemesis in the Martin Scorsese-directed music video "Bad" and the feature film Streets of Gold. That same year, Snipes was also considered for the role of Geordi La Forge in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the role eventually went to LeVar Burton.^[6]

Snipes' performance in the music video "Bad" caught the eye of director Spike Lee. Snipes turned down a small role in Lee's Do the Right Thing for the larger part of Willie Mays Hayes in Major League, beginning a succession of box-office hits for Snipes. Lee would later cast Snipes as the jazz saxophonist Shadow Henderson in Mo' Better Blues and as the lead in the interracial romance drama Jungle Fever. He played the drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was written specifically for him by Barry Michael Cooper. He also played a drug dealer in the 1994 film Sugar Hill.

Although Snipes is better known for his roles in action films like Passenger 57, Demolition Man (with Sylvester Stallone), Money Train, The Fan, U.S. Marshals and Rising Sun, he has also had success in comedies like White Men Can't Jump, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar where he played a drag queen alongside Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo. Snipes has also received critical acclaim for his performances in dramas like The Waterdance and Disappearing Acts.

In 1997, he won the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in New Line Cinema's One Night Stand. In 1998, Snipes had his largest commercial success with Blade, which has grossed over $150 million worldwide. The film turned into a successful series. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY/Purchase.

Most of his latest films have been released straight-to-DVD. His latest films are The Shooter (also known as The Contractor), filmed in Bulgaria and the UK, with Charles Dance, Lena Heady and Eliza Bennett, Gallowwalker, released in 2009, and Game Of Death with Ernie Hudson, Robert Davi, Zoë Bell, and Gary Daniels.

Snipes was originally slated to play one of the four leads in Spike Lee's 2008 war film Miracle at St. Anna but had to leave the film due to his widely publicized tax problems; his role eventually went to Derek Luke.^[7]

Snipes with Ethan Hawke in 2009.

Snipes made a comeback performance in Brooklyn's Finest as Caz, a supporting character. He also had to turn down the part of Hale Caesar in The Expendables because he was not allowed to leave the United States without the court's approval.^[8] He was also offered the role of Nick Curran in Basic Instinct but turned it down because of commitments on another film.^{[citation needed]} He has spoken with Sylvester Stallone about a part in a sequel to The Expendables.^{[citation needed]}

Other ventures[link]

In the late 1990s, Snipes and his brother started a security firm called the Royal Guard of Amen-Ra, dedicated to providing VIPs with bodyguards trained in law enforcement and martial arts. Amen- ra is also the name of his film company. In 1996, the first film produced by Amen Ra was A Great And Mighty Walk – Dr. John Henrik Clarke.^[9]

In 2000, the business was investigated for alleged ties to the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors. It emerged that Snipes had spotted 200 acres (0.81 km²) of land with the intention to buy and use for his business academy, which were close to the aforesaid compound in Putnam County, Georgia. Both Snipes' business and the groups used Egyptian motifs as their symbols.^[9]

Ultimately, Snipes and his brother did not buy the land, instead establishing their company in Florida, Antigua, and Africa. The compound of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors was raided in 2002 and their leader was convicted. Later the conviction was overturned.^[9]

In 2005, Snipes was in negotiations to fight Fear Factor host Joe Rogan.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Snipes with wife Nakyung Park in 2009.

Snipes has been romantically linked to a number of women, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Sanaa Lathan, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez. He has been married twice, first to April Snipes, with whom he has a son, Jelani Asar Snipes, born in 1988. Jelani had a cameo role in Snipes' 1990 film Mo' Better Blues. In 2003, Snipes married painter Nakyung "Nikki" Park, with whom he has four children: son Akhenaten Kihwa-T Snipes, daughter Iset Jua-T Snipes (born July 31, 2001), son Alaafia Jehu-T Snipes (born May 26, 2004), and son Alimayu Moa-T Snipes (born March 26, 2007). Snipes spends a lot of time in Park's home country of South Korea, which he calls his "second home."

Snipes, who was raised a Christian, converted to Islam in 1978 but left Islam in 1988. During a 1991 interview, Snipes said "[Islam made] me more conscious of what African people have accomplished, of my self-worth, [and gave] me some self-dignity."^[11]

Snipes' apartment was destroyed by the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers during the September 11 attacks. He was on the West Coast at the time. During his time in New York Snipes was trained in fighting by his friend and mentor Brooke Ellis.^[12]

Legal troubles[link]

New Line lawsuit[link]

In 2005, Snipes sued New Line Cinema, and David S. Goyer, director of Blade: Trinity, which Snipes also produced. He claimed that the studio did not pay his full salary, that he was intentionally cut out of casting decisions, and that his character's screen time was reduced in favor of co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel.

Snipes contends that Goyer, his fellow producers, and New Line kept him out of the project's decision process, and that this alleged misconduct ended up harming the film's box office performance (it made just $52 million, compared to the previous installments' respective grosses of $70 million and $82 million). He says that a portion of his salary—$3.6 million—was withheld as punishment. Neither Goyer nor New Line has commented on these allegations. The suit was later settled, but no details were released.^[13]

Incident involving South African passport[link]

In 2005, Snipes was detained at OR Tambo International Airport for attempting to leave South Africa using a fraudulent South African passport.^[14]

Federal tax convictions[link]

On October 12, 2006, Wesley Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn, and Douglas P. Rosile were charged with one count of conspiring to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. § 371 and one count of knowingly making or aiding and abetting the making of a false and fraudulent claim for payment against the United States, under 18 U.S.C. § 287 and 18 U.S.C. § 2. Snipes was also charged with six counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns by their filing dates under 26 U.S.C. § 7203.^[15] The conspiracy charge against Snipes included allegations that he filed a false amended return, including a false tax refund claim of over US$4 million for the year 1996, and a false amended return, including a false tax refund claim of over US$7.3 million for the year 1997. The government alleged that Snipes attempted to obtain fraudulent tax refunds using a tax protester theory called the "861 argument" (essentially, an argument that the domestic income of U.S. citizens and residents is not taxable). The indictment said Snipes used accountants who already had a history of filing false returns to obtain refund payments for their clients.^[16] The government also charged that Snipes sent three worthless, fictitious "bills of exchange" to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the amounts of $1,000,000 (on November 30, 2000), $12,000,000 (January 18, 2001), and $1,000,000 (September 10, 2002), each accompanied by an IRS tax payment voucher coupon.^[17]

Snipes was a client of American Rights Litigators, which Kahn operated. As a client, Snipes gave a percentage of his tax refunds to Kahn's organization.^[18] The government also charged that Snipes failed to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004.

In a December 4, 2006, letter from Snipes in response to his indictment, he declared himself "a non-resident alien" of the United States; in reality, Snipes is a U.S. born citizen.^[19] Snipes said he was being made an example of and was unfairly targeted by prosecutors because of his fame in connection with the federal tax fraud investigation. He attempted unsuccessfully to get the trial moved away from Ocala, Florida, on the grounds that racist attitudes in that town would prejudice his chance for a fair trial.^[20] Snipes faced the possibility of serving up to 16 years in prison and paying substantial fines if convicted on all the charges.^[21] The trial began on January 14, 2008, in Ocala, Florida,^[22] with opening statements beginning on January 16, 2008.^[23]

Mug shot of Snipes taken in April 2008.

On February 1, 2008, Snipes was acquitted on the felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government and on the felony count of filing a false claim with the government. He was, however, found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal income tax returns (and acquitted on three other "failure to file" charges). His co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on the conspiracy and false claim charges in connection with the income tax refund claims filed for Snipes.^[24][25]

On April 24, 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for willful failure to file federal income tax returns under 26 U.S.C. § 7203.^[26][27][28] Kahn was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Rosile was sentenced to four and half years in prison.^[29] In April 2009, the Los Angeles Wave reported that Snipes has refused to answer certain questions in connection with a talent agency lawsuit in which the agency claims that Snipes owes over $1.4 million in commissions. Snipes is reported to have taken the position that his answers could incriminate him in a federal tax investigation. Lawyers for the talent agency stated that Snipes' lawyer advised the lawyers for the talent agency that "Snipes and his [ ... ] companies are under an additional investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and Snipes would be asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would not answer any questions at his deposition."^[30] On May 22, 2008, the trial court ruled that Snipes could remain free while his appeal was being considered.^[31]

On July 16, 2010, in a 35-page decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed Snipes's convictions.^[32][33][34] At the conclusion of its decision, the Court of Appeals stated:

Although Snipes argues that there were mitigating factors that the judge did not specifically mention at sentencing, these facts—his college education, his family, and his charitable activities—do not compel the conclusion that the sentence crafted in accordance with the 18 U.S.C. [section] 3553(a) factors was substantively unreasonable. The district court acted well within its considerable discretion in sentencing Snipes to thirty-six months in prison.^[34]

On November 19, 2010, the United States District Court in Ocala, Florida, denied motions for permission to interview jurors and motions for a new trial which had been filed by attorneys for Snipes. The Court ordered that the judgment of commitment be enforced.^[35] In the 17-page order, the Court also granted the prosecution's motion to revoke the bail for Snipes.^[35] Until December 9, 2010, Snipes remained free on bail to work, even traveling internationally, while he appealed his conviction.^[36][37]

Imprisonment[link]

In a television appearance on December 7, 2010, Snipes was asked by CNN's Larry King if he was nervous about going to prison, and he admitted his trepidation about doing time. "I think any man would be nervous," Snipes said. "Given the length of time that they are suggesting that I be away from my family, away from my profession, away from my ability to provide for my family and for those who have depended upon me to contribute to society ... I think anyone would be nervous about that."

On December 9, 2010, Snipes reported to federal prison to begin his three-year sentence.^[38][39]

On June 6, 2011, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Snipes' appeal.^[40][41][42] Snipes is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution, McKean, a medium security federal prison in Pennsylvania, and is scheduled for release on July 19, 2013.^[43]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Other[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wesley Snipes

• Wesley Snipes at the Internet Movie Database
• Wesley Snipes at the Internet Broadway Database
• Picture of Snipes' fake South African Passport
• The Snipes Trial – a website by commentator J.J. MacNab on the criminal tax trial of Wesley Snipes

Al Pacino
Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in September 2004
Born	Alfredo James Pacino (1940-04-25) April 25, 1940 (age 72) New York City
Occupation	Actor, director, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1968–present
Children	2 daughters, 1 son

Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (/pəˈtʃiːnɵ/; born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Tony Montana in Scarface, though he has also appeared several times on the other side of the law — as a police officer, a detective and a lawyer. His role as Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman won him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1993 after receiving seven previous Oscar nominations, one of them being in the same year.

He made his feature film debut in the 1969 film Me, Natalie in a minor supporting role, before playing the leading role in the 1971 drama The Panic in Needle Park. Pacino made his major breakthrough when he was given the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather in 1972, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Other Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor were for Dick Tracy and Glengarry Glen Ross. Oscar nominations for Best Actor include The Godfather Part II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice for All and Scent of a Woman.

In addition to a career in film, he has also enjoyed a successful career on stage, winning Tony Awards for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. A longtime fan of Shakespeare, he made his directorial debut with Looking for Richard, a quasi-documentary on the play Richard III. Pacino has received numerous lifetime achievement awards, including one from the American Film Institute. He is a method actor, taught mainly by Lee Strasberg and Charles Laughton at the Actors Studio in New York.

Although he has never married, Pacino has had several relationships with actresses and has three children.

Early life and education[link]

Pacino was born in East Harlem, New York City to Italian American parents Rose and Salvatore Pacino, who divorced when he was two years old.^[1] When he was two, his mother moved to the South Bronx near the Bronx Zoo, to live with her parents, Kate and James Gerardi, who originated from Corleone, Sicily.^[2] His father moved to Covina, California, and worked as an insurance salesman and restaurateur.^[1] Pacino attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York.^[2] During his teenage years 'Sonny', as he was known to his friends, aimed to become a baseball player, though he was also nicknamed 'The Actor'.^[3] Pacino flunked nearly all of his classes except English and dropped out of school at 17. His mother disagreed with his decision; they had an argument and he left home. He worked at a string of low-paying jobs, including messenger boy, busboy, janitor, and postal clerk, in order to finance his acting studies.^[1]

He started smoking at age nine, drinking and casual marijuana use at age thirteen, but never took hard drugs.^[4] His two closest friends died young of drug abuse at the ages of 19 and 30.^[5] Growing up in the Bronx, he got into occasional fights and was something of a troublemaker at school.^[6]

He acted in basement plays in New York's theatrical underground but was rejected for the Actors Studio while still a teenager.^[3] Pacino then joined the Herbert Berghof Studio (HB Studio), where he met acting teacher Charlie Laughton, who became his mentor and best friend.^[3] During this period, he was frequently unemployed and homeless, and sometimes had to sleep on the street, in theaters, or at friends' houses.^[2][7] In 1962, his mother died at the age of 43.^[8] The following year, his grandfather, James Gerardi, one of the most influential people in his life, also died.^[1]

Actors Studio training[link]

After having spent four years at HB Studio, Pacino successfully auditioned for the Actors Studio.^[3] The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.^[9] Pacino studied "method acting"^[1] under acting coach Lee Strasberg, who later appeared with Pacino in the films The Godfather Part II and in ...And Justice for All.^[2] During later interviews he spoke about Strasberg and the Studio's effect on his career. "The Actors Studio meant so much to me in my life. Lee Strasberg hasn’t been given the credit he deserves ... Next to Charlie, it sort of launched me. It really did. That was a remarkable turning point in my life. It was directly responsible for getting me to quit all those jobs and just stay acting."^[10] During another interview he added, "It was exciting to work for him [Lee Strasberg] because he was so interesting when he talked about a scene or talked about people. One would just want to hear him talk, because things he would say, you’d never heard before ... He had such a great understanding... he loved actors so much."^[11]

Pacino is currently co-president, along with Ellen Burstyn and Harvey Keitel, of the Actors Studio.^[9]

Stage career[link]

In 1967, Pacino spent a season at the Charles Playhouse in Boston, performing in Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! (his first major paycheck: $125 a week); and in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's America, Hurrah, where he met actress Jill Clayburgh while working on this play. They went on to have a five-year romance and moved together back to New York City.^[12]

In 1968, Pacino starred in Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx at the Astor Place Theater, playing Murph, a street punk. The play opened January 17, 1968, and ran for 177 performances; it was staged in a double bill with Horovitz's It's Called the Sugar Plum, starring Clayburgh. Pacino won an Obie Award for Best Actor for his role, with John Cazale winning for Best Supporting actor and Horowitz for Best New Play.^[13] Martin Bregman saw the play and offered to be Pacino's manager, a partnership that became fruitful in the years to come, as Bregman encouraged Pacino to do The Godfather, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon.^[14] Pacino and this production of The Indian Wants the Bronx traveled to Italy for a performance at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. It was Pacino's first journey to Italy; he later recalled that "performing for an Italian audience was a marvelous experience".^[12] Pacino and Clayburgh were cast in "Deadly Circle of Violence", an episode of the ABC television series N.Y.P.D., premiering November 12, 1968. Clayburgh at the time was also appearing on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, playing the role of Grace Bolton. Her father would send the couple money each month to help.^[15]

On February 25, 1969, Pacino made his Broadway debut in Don Petersen's Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? at the Belasco Theater. It closed after 39 performances on March 29, 1969, but Pacino received rave reviews and won the Tony Award on April 20, 1969.^[12] Pacino continued performing onstage in the 1970s, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III.^[1] In 1980s Pacino again achieved critical success on the stage while appearing in David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.^[1] Since 1990 Pacino's stage work has included revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie, Oscar Wilde's Salome and in 2005 Lyle Kessler's Orphans.^[16]

Pacino made his return to the stage in summer 2010, as Shylock in a Shakespeare in the Park production of The Merchant of Venice.^[17] The acclaimed production transferred to Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in October, earning US$1 million at the box office in its first week.^[18][19] The performance also garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play.^[20]

Film career[link]

Early film career[link]

Pacino found acting to be enjoyable and realized he had a gift for it while studying at The Actors Studio. However, his early work was not financially rewarding.^[2] After his success on stage, Pacino made his movie debut in 1969 with a brief screen appearance in Me, Natalie, an independent film starring Patty Duke.^[21] In 1970, Pacino signed with the talent agency Creative Management Associates (CMA).^[12]

1970s[link]