THE FIRE OF LONDON
JOHN DRYDEN

He tries to show us the react of the people of London. Their love for their houses made them stand watching their houses burning against their eyes. It is something which can’t be forgotten. It is a serious and descriptive poem.
Paraphrase:
The first stanza:
Because of the smoke and fire the light became black or dark. They wanted to escape because it seemed to come to an end. A sad picture which had a complete destruction. They ran out quickly as if they had alarmed sign. This refers to the judgment day and to the trumpet blow of that day. They had no time to select a proper clothes and without making any preparation, they left their houses and everything inside it.
The second stanza:
- { the first group }
Those people whom their houses aren’t burned yet, they came to help the others. They are waiting for their turn to be helped. They lived in peace but anxiously from the motion of the fire. The fire is coming sooner or later.
- { the second group }
those who lost their houses were sitting down near their lovely and dreamy homes. They hope that fire will leave some of it. They move in the same era as a man doing his last moves after his killing. This person has not a lot of time and can go no far..
- { the tow groups }
they are searching between the ashes watching this catastrophe, and some turn their faces but the image of fire is everywhere and can't escape from. This hated image is fixed in their minds can't be forgotten.
- { the third group }
the people who had escaped to the fields were like the cattle of animals laying their heads on the grass. The dew became hated also, because it was formed from the smoke of their houses , but they had to do that. While their children were sleeping as if there was nothing wrong. Those people were looking at their houses from the top of the hills in fields.
Although they were in the field , but they can expect which house or street was burning at the moment. Who 's turn was coming. The children faced the tears of their mothers instead of milk. All cry at the end because of this suffering made by Fire.


Again john Dryden is talking in general . Nothing imaginary as a realistic presentation . Real figures described in a good way . Every stanza is rhyming like:{ab ab}
The language is classical and there is a kind of efforts in the side of the poet . the use of "destruction" , "haunting" , "murdered man". There is a kind of humor between the words of the poem and its subject.
Figures of speech :
They had a kind of pain .
Line 3. he compares gathering people around their houses with gathering people after hearing the alarm sign. It is metaphor.
Line 7. he compares sleeping with something which can be broken. It is metaphor.
Line 7. he compares sleeping with a person who can't sleep easily. It is personification.
Line 12. he compares gathering those people who can not move away of their burning houses with a dying person who's creeping until his completely death. It is simile.
Line 17. he compares the running people with animals which are laying on the wet grass. It is simile.
The figures of Satire in Dryden.
1 - political type: against the bad politicians.
2 - Sense of humor: talking about the son. {mock-epic}: a serious subject treated in a sense of comedy with the seriousness.
3 - Using metaphor: to clarify the ideas.
4 - Reference to the reason: mention the tow sides and comment on them.
5 - A poetry of many characters: "portrait gallery".
6 - The condemn is presented in a perfect way.
7 - The characters had a universal appeal.
8 - It is shown in a concentrating style.
9 - There is no personal hatred ."malice"