Ko da yake marubuta na Parnassus taka a St John ta College, Cambridge, ƙidaya shi tare da Chaucer, Gower, kuma Spenser. A cikin farko Folio, Ben Jonson kira Shakespeare da "Ruhun shekaru, da applause, ni'ima, da abin mamaki na mu mataki", ko da yake ya yi sharhi a wasu wurare da cewa "Shakespeare so art". Tsakanin da maido da mulkin mallaka a 1660 da kuma karshen karni na 17th, na gargajiya ra'ayoyi sun kasance a vogue. A sakamakon, malaman lokaci rated shi daga wani rukuni na Turanci marubuta kamar yadda "mafi kyau" a duka biyu comedy da kuma bala'i. Daga cikin Shakespeare mafi yawa rated John Fletcher da Thomas Jonson. A lokacin karni na 18th, da dama marubuta kamar Samuel R. Goyden da Dr. John Rymer sun ba da amsa sosai ga abin da Shakespeare ya yi a matsayin mai girma mashahuriyar kasa, amma a cikin shekarun da suka gabata na 19th Century, ya kara da cewa: "A cikin shekaru 18th Century, da dama marubuta sun ba da sha'awar shi a
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