Arts & Sciences

Elegy on Shakespeare

by William Basse c. 1583–c. 1653

From The Poetical Works of William Basse, ed. R. W. Bond (1893)

Arts & Sciences

Renowned Spencer lye a thought more nye
To learned Chaucer, and rare Beaumond lye
A little neerer Spenser, to make roome
For Shakespeare in your threefold, fowerfold Tombe.
To lodge all fowre in one bed make a shift
Vntill Doomesdaye, for hardly will a fift
Betwixt ys day and yt by Fate be slayne,
For whom your Curtaines may be drawn againe.
If your precedency in death doth barre
A fourth place in your sacred sepulcher,
Vnder this carued marble of thine owne,
Sleepe, rare Tragoedian, Shakespeare, sleep alone;
Thy unmolested peace, vnshared Caue,
Possesse as Lord, not Tenant, of thy Graue,
That vnto us & others it may be
Honor hereafter to be layde by thee.

MLA

Basse, William. “Elegy on Shakespeare.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/basse/0/.

Chicago

Basse, William. “Elegy on Shakespeare.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/basse/0/.

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