Question

summary of first two lines of MAC FLECKNOE

Answer 1

All human things are subject to decay,

And, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey:

Dryden begins with a lofty commentary on mortality, God, and kings, his introduction to what we can only assume will be a grandiose epic of Homeric proportions.  

As we will soon discover, the entirety of the poem is written in rhymed heroic couplets, typical of the epic style.

From this initial couplet, Dryden creates the atmosphere of an epic, a grandiose story of gods and kings, in line with the tradition of poetic big names like Homer or Milton.