| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | April 23 | | An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, W. Shakespeare | | By John Milton (1608–1674) |
| | | | Born at Stratford-on-Avon, April 23, 1564. Died there April 23, 1616. |
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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 starry-pointing pyramid? | |
| Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, | 5 |
| What need’st thou such weak witness of thy name? | |
| Thou in our wonder and astonishment | |
| Hast built thyself a live-long monument. | |
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| For whilst to th’ shame of slow-endeavoring art | |
| Thy easy numbers flow, and that each heart | 10 |
| 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 | 15 |
| That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. | | | |
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