The State of Innocence The State of Innocence The State of Innocence was intended to be performed as an opera, with the libretto written in 1674, (first published in 1677) by John Dryden. It is basically a musical stage adaptation of John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost", a tribute to Milton rather than a satire of the poem. That Dryden was an admirer of Milton's is surprising as the two men were politically opposed. Milton was against the restoration of the British monarchy, while the royalist Dryden was created England’s first Poet Laureate by the restored Charles II. So great an admirer of Milton
Caramuru (epic poem) Caramuru (epic poem) Caramuru is an epic poem written by Brazilian Augustinian friar Santa Rita Durão. It was published in 1781, and it is one of the most famous Indianist works of Brazilian Neoclassicism – the other being Basílio da Gama's "O Uraguai". Inspired by Luís de Camões' "The Lusiads", it is divided in ten cantos. The poem tells the story of the famous Portuguese sailor Diogo Álvares Correia, also known as "Caramuru" (Old Tupi for "Son of the Thunder"), who shipwrecked on the shores of present-day Bahia and had to live among the Indians. The poem also alludes to