John Milton(1608–1674)
On Shakespeare
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-ypointing6 pyramid
Dear son of Memory,7 great heir of Fame,
W h a t n e e d ' s t t h o u s u c h w e a k w i t n e s s o f thy n a m e ?
T h o u i n o u r w o n d e r a n d a s t o n i s h m e n t
H a s t built t h y s e l f a l i v e l o n g m o n u m e n t .
For whilst, to th' s h a m e of s l o w - e n d e a v o r i n g art,
Thy easy numbers 0 flow, and that each heart
Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued 0 bookinvaluable
Those Delphic 8 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
T h a t kings for s u c h a t o m b w o u l d w i s h to die.
1645