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 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFFGHH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 675 |
Words | 124 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
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"An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet W. Shakespeare" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/23789/an-epitaph-on-the-admirable-dramatic-poet-w.-shakespeare>.
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