DENNIS, JOHN (1657-1734), English critic and dramatist, was born in London, and educated at Harrow and Cambridge. After travelling for some time on the Continent he settled in London, and obtained, through the patronage of the duke of Marl borough, a small place in the customs, which he sold for a small charge covering a long period of years. His first successful plays were A Plot and No Plot (1697), a satire on the Jacobites, and Rinaldo and Armida (1699), and Liberty Asserted 0704). Appius and Virginius (written 17o5 and produced at Drury Lane 1709) was satirized by Pope in the Essay on Criticism: Appius reddens at each word you speak, And stares tremendous, with a threatening eye, Like some fierce tyrant in old tapestry.
Dennis replied in 1712 with Reflections . . . on the Essay, and the quarrel was pursued in a series of pamphlets provoked by various incidents. He also quarrelled with Addison, and published Remarks upon Cato 0713), which drew from Pope the Narrative of Dr. Robert Norris, concerning the strange and deplorable Frenzy of John Dennis 0713). In the end Pope and Dennis were reconciled, and exchanged friendly letters. But Dennis's best claim to remembrance lies neither in his plays nor in his literary quarrels but in the body of his, on the whole, sane critical work. He had the prejudices of his time, and is tiresomely in sistent on poetical justice.
The most important of his critical works are The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry (i7o1) ; The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry 0704); and An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shake speare 0712).