Analysis of On Shakespear
John Milton 1608 (Cheapside) – 1674 (Chalfont St Giles)
What needs my Shakespear for his honour'd Bones,
The labour of an age in piled Stones,
Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame,
What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
For whilst toth' shame of slow-endeavouring art,
Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalu'd Book,
Those Delphick lines with deep impression took
Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving,
Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving;
And so Sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie,
That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFFFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111 01111011 111101111 10011100 1111001111 1111111111 10101000100 1111011100 11111111 111010111 11011111 111110101 1110101111 111101111 01101111 1111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 680 |
Words | 124 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 543 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 122 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 01, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 45 Views
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"On Shakespear" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23809/on-shakespear>.
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