John Milton (9th December 1608- 08 November 1674) is considered one of the greatest poets in English literature. He is famous for his Epic Paradise Lost. Though he was one of the greatest scholars; his eyesight didn’t last for long. It was steadily declining for years due to overstress and finally in 1652 he became completely blind.
The Sonnet ON HIS BLINDNESS published in 1653. That era was totally different from today’s era and that is the reason why it was very difficult for John Milton to cope with his blindness. Being a poet, his vision was important for him but unfortunately, he didn’t have it. Still, he didn’t lose his faith in God and continued working without an eyesight. In the present Sonnet we see that Milton regrets his loss but still he trusts God and his talent gifted by Him. The poem teaches us to be optimistic in life and to have faith in God.
On His Blindness by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
On his blindness is one of the most famous poems written by John Milton. It is autobiographical in nature and the main theme of the poem is obviously his Blindness. It is a Petrarchan Sonnet (a type of Sonnet) and it is divided into octave (8 lines) and sestet (6 lines). At the beginning of the poem Milton seems very sad for his loss. He says,
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
This stanza shows that Milton has so many doubts in his mind. He thinks that due to his blindness his talent of writing would be wasted because though he has the talent he couldn’t write poetry and so in a way he is unable to serve the God. The God has given him the task of writing poetry and if he fails to do his duties; he will be doomed and he will fall into the darkness… darker than his own blindness. But he knows he is loyal to his God and he would not do anything that would make him unhappy therefore he is ready to accept his fate. He also believes in his patience and he knows that it will help him through these bad times.
In the next stanza he seems more optimistic. He says,
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
He believes that almighty god writes everyone’s destiny and therefore God knows everything about every being in the universe. Whatever we possess is given to us by the God and so He doesn’t need anything from us as He is the creator of everything and He has plans for all of us therefore everything will happen according to His will. He is the king of heaven and thousands of Angels serve him restlessly. They can travel the lands and oceans to follow his orders and that is the reason why He doesn’t need anything from us. But we should not forget to bear His mild yoke which means we should only focus on doing our duties and by doing so we can serve Him the best and this is how Milton makes the mind to serve the God by using his talent and because of his faith in God he was able to complete the enormous task of writing the Epic Paradise Lost which consists of 10 books with over 10,000 lines.
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