John Milton: An Epitaph On The Admirable Dramatic Poet

“On Shakespeare” is John Milton’s first published poem, originally published under the title “An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, W. Shakespeare” in 1632. This sonnet is referred to as an epitaph, which is typically written on the occasion of death. Being that Milton wrote “On Shakespeare” fourteen years after Shakespeare’s death, he does not include death or mourning in the poem. Milton instead focuses on the immortality of Shakespeare due to the popularity and lasting qualities of his work. Milton uses many of Shakespeare’s own words throughout the poem in order to praise and commemorate him, which causes much confusion as to the legitimacy of Milton’s positive feelings towards Shakespeare and his work. In the first eight lines of the poem Milton uses terms such as bones, relics, and monuments in order to allude to the tangible elements left after one dies. He also uses terms such as stones and pyramids to give a lasting and durable sense to these elements. However, he considers these to be “weak” compared to what Shakespeare has left behind. He writes that Shakespeare’s works are immortal, a “live-long monument”; but these are not Milton’s praises, these are praises written by Shakespeare himself. Shakespeare mentions in many of his sonnets that his poetry is immortal, Milton is merely repeating what has already been …show more content…
This allows him to become a spokesperson for all of Shakespeare’s readers, relating himself with others. It was also unusual for Milton to write this piece in iambic pentameter with heroic couplets, it was not a common meter for him. Sonnet #18 by William Shakespeare is written in the same meter, and happens to be one of Shakespeare’s most well-known sonnets. I doubt Milton used this meter coincidentally, it is simply another subtle allusion to Shakespeare and his easily recognizable