An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet W. Shakespeare

John Milton 1608 (Cheapside) – 1674 (Chalfont St Giles)



What needs my Shakespeare for his honored bones
The labor of an age in piled stones?
Or that his hallowed reliques should be hid
Under a star-ypointing pyramid?
Dear son of Memory, great heir of Fame,
What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy self a livelong monument.
For whilst, to th' shame of slow-endeavoring art,
Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book
Those Delphic lines with deep impression took,
Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving,
Dost make us marble with too much conceiving,
And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie
That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

37 sec read
156

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFFGHH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 675
Words 124
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

John Milton

John Milton was the Secretary of State of Georgia from 1777 to 1799. more…

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    "An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet W. Shakespeare" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/23789/an-epitaph-on-the-admirable-dramatic-poet-w.-shakespeare>.

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