Titlepage of Milton's 1645 edition of his youthful poems.

This edition included a poem celebrating Shakespeare's achievements. Jonathan Bate writes: " The works of Milton, notably his masque Comus, were steeped in Shakespearean language. The young Milton's first published poem was a sonnet prefixed to the second edition of the Folio, in which Shakespeare was said to have built himself "a live-long Monument" in the form of his plays." The Guardian (London), 14 April, 2007. The poems illustrated in the next two images also appeared in this volume.