Happy the Man

August 19, 1631 - John Dryden, was born on this day. He was the first of 14 kids in his family.

Dryden was a lifelong poet. His first published poem was an elegy to a schoolmate who died from small pox.

In 1668 he became England's first Poet Laureate. His most memorable works were the political satire, Absalom and Achitophel, which includes his famous quote, “Beware the fury of the patient man,” and Annus Mirabilis, a poem that celebrates the way London bounced back from the Great Fire.

Dryden died at the age of 68 in 1700.

One of the most enduring parts of his legacy is the short poem, Happy the Man, which Dryden translated and transformed from a Latin verse by Horace. He took some creative license, but the original essence of seizing the day and taking stock in the good times is captured.

Happy the Man

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

- John Dryden