Life & Wisdom Quote by John Dryden

A lion whipped into action by its own tail is a ridiculous image on purpose: majesty reduced to self-inflicted irritation. Dryden’s line turns national power into a kind of comic reflex, suggesting a state that doesn’t move from principle so much as from pique. “Roused by the lash” sounds like heroic mobilization until you notice the lash isn’t the enemy’s; it’s the lion’s “own stubborn tail.” The engine of war is internal obstinacy, not external necessity.

That’s the subtexted jab. Dryden, writing in an England addicted to allegory and propaganda, reaches for the lion as the obvious emblem of sovereignty. Then he undercuts it. A lion should be provoked by a rival predator; here it’s provoked by itself, as if the nation’s policy is a loop of pride, irritation, and escalation. The phrase “now will foreign foes assail” lands like the grand announcement of purpose, but the causal chain is embarrassingly small: an overgrown beast, annoyed by its own anatomy, deciding to bite outward.

The intent isn’t pacifist so much as diagnostic. Dryden captures how empires narrate aggression as destiny while it’s often a domesticated drama of ego, faction, and stubbornness. The meter’s forward push mimics that momentum: once roused, the lion “now will” act, as if action itself becomes the alibi. In a Restoration culture obsessed with authority, Dryden’s wit lets him flatter the symbol while quietly exposing the petulance inside it.