Sh—— alone my perfect image bears,
Mature in dullness from his tender years.
Sh—— alone, of all my Sons, is he
Who stands confirm’d in full stupidity.
John Dryden’s poem, Mac Flecknoe is perhaps one of the earliest forms (and maybe even the OG form) of trolling. This classical pre-cursor to the modern 140-character digital lashing is classy trolling raised to an art form. The target of this
wit-lash is supposedly (for he is unnamed in the poem) Thomas Shadwell—a poet who had appeared to have offended Dryden with his poetry, Protestant views, and political stance.
Mac Flecknoe is sophisticated, subtle, and nuanced, and shows how much more stinging a well crafted barb is, than an outright all-caps yell. It is likely the recipient of these digs will first marvel at Dryden’s skill with the satirical scalpel before moving on to getting offended.
The rest to some faint meaning make pretence,
But Sh—— never deviates into sense.
This isn’t a quick tweet; a hasty jab-and-flee. No! Dryden stays the course for over 200 lines and ensures he is quite thorough. And perhaps, precisely because there is no character constraint to his umbrage, Dryden can explore the depths of his feelings.
This is as much an example of Dryden’s mastery of satire as it is a guidebook for practitioners of the form. And some of our modern trollers might well blush in being shown up as inadequate.
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