“What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones
The labour of an age in piled stones?
Or that his hallowed Reliques should be hid
Under a star-ypointing pyramid?”
These lines are written by
Correct Answer :
John Milton
Solution :
The correct option is John Milton.
Detailed Explanation:
The quoted lines are the opening verses of the famous poem titled "On Shakespeare", written by the celebrated English poet John Milton in 1630. This tribute was Milton's first published English poem, appearing anonymously in the Prefatory Sheets of the Second Folio of William Shakespeare's plays in 1632.
Understanding the Lines:
1. "What needs my Shakespeare for his honoured bones / The labour of an age in piled stones?": Milton raises a rhetorical question, asking if Shakespeare requires a physical monument made of stones piled up over a long time to honor his remains.
2. "Or that his hallowed Reliques should be hid / Under a star-ypointing pyramid?": He wonders if Shakespeare's sacred remains need to be hidden beneath a grand, sky-reaching pyramid.
Milton's central argument in this poem is that physical monuments are entirely unnecessary for a literary genius of Shakespeare's stature. Instead, Shakespeare's true and eternal monument is built in the minds of his readers through his immortal plays and poetry.
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