A brief historical sketch is given of Taylor’s dislocation density-based model description, leading to the prediction of a parabolic, tensile, stress–strain curve for the plastic deformation of aluminum. The present focus is on additional results or analyses obtained on the subject for crystal/polycrystal strain hardening. Our current understanding of such material behavior is attributed to post-Taylor descriptions of sequential deformation stages in stress–strain measurements that are closely tied to specific dislocation interaction and reaction mechanisms. A schematic comparison is given for individual face-centered cubic (fcc), body-centered cubic (bcc), and hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystal curves and to related strength properties determined for individual crystals and polycrystalline material. For the fcc case, an example sessile dislocation reaction is described based on a stereographic projection. Then, quantitative constitutive-relation-based assessments are presented for the tensile strain hardening leading to the plastic instability behaviors of copper and tantalum materials.