Research Essay on John Dryden John Dryden was born on an unsure date in 1631 in Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire. He was born the oldest of 14 children in a landed family of modest means. His parents sided with the Parliament against he King. There is some question to whether or not he was raised in a strict Puritan environment. His father was a country gentleman of moderate fortune. He was given the opportunity by his father to be educated at Westminster School and at the University of Cambridge. Around 1657 he went to London as a clerk to the chamberlain to the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The death of Cromwell in 1659 inspired Dryden to write his fir