On Shakespeare (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Milton
- First Published: 1632
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Epitaph
- Subjects: Immortality, Authors or writers, Poetry or poets, England or English people, Seventeenth century, Fame, Shakespeare, William, or Shakespearean plays, Plays or playwrights
The Poem
“On Shakespeare” is a sixteen-line epitaph written in iambic pentameter and divided into heroic couplets, an unusual meter for John Milton’s poetry. In English verse, the heroic couplet was not a smoothly honed stanza until after Milton’s poetic career had concluded. The poem was originally published under the title “An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare,” though the title Milton used in the 1645 edition of his lyric poems has been accepted ever since. The epitaph is related to the classical epigram, a brief lyric that includes pithy...
[The entire page is 1517 words long]
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