This work addresses the tensions, contradictions, and versatility of the writer. Part one offers a guide to the teaching editions of Dryden's work and a discussion of the background resources, from biographies and literary criticism to social, cultural, political, and art histories. In part two, twenty-one essays describe different pedagogical entries into Dryden and his time, involving subjects as various as genre, adaptation, literary rivalry, musical setting, and political and religious poetry - in classroom situations that range from the traditional survey to learning through performance.