Welcome to the British History podcast. My name is Jamie, and this is episode 492, The War for Perception.

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In 1668, John Dryden became England's very first poet laureate.

But he had a rival.

No, not just a rival, a nemesis.

This man's name was Thomas Shadwell.

And I can't overstate how much Dryden hated him. He hated him so much,

in fact, that in 1682, wielding the full influence that he had as England's poet laureate,

Dryden wrote McFlechno. Now, this was a poem that was written in heroic couplets, much like the

English translations of Homer's epics. However, instead of being a grand tale of adventure and gods,

McFlecno was about Thomas Shadwell. Specifically, it was about how Shadwell was an unfunny jackass and a terrible

writer. Seven years later, in 1689, Dryden was dethroned and a new poet laureate was proclaimed.

It was Thomas Shadwell.

So Shadwell won the poetry battle, right?

Wrong.

Because while most of you have probably read some of Dryden's works in school at some point in your lives,

most people have never heard of Shadwell. And those who have heard of him,

mostly know of him through Dryden's torrent of abuse in McFlechno. Dryden's burn was so effective

that for hundreds of years, Shadwell was mostly just a punchline. And it wasn't until relatively recently that scholars even took a serious look at his work.

And then we're all, wow, you know what?

...