Milton and the Canon: ‘On Shakespeare’

This chapter focuses on Milton’s role in the creation of the English canon and what this elucidates about his writing career, with particular emphasis on materiality. Written in 1630, the anonymous encomium ‘On Shakespeare’ appeared in Shakespeare’s Second Folio (1632) marks Milton’s first published poem, later included in his 1645 Poems. In sixteen lines of poetry, the young poet discloses views about imaginative genius and canonicity, as well as intertext and allusion. This chapter, then, considers anonymity, vernacular writing, and the materiality of publication across Milton’s varied writings, as well as the research opportunities afforded by digital advancements of material archives, including the discovery of Milton’s own copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio and Holinshed’s Chronicles.