When I Consider How My Light is Spent (On His Blindness)

John Milton Greatest English poet after Shakespeare(1608-1674)

About the poet

John Milton was born on December 9,

1608, in London

lived on Bread Street in Cheapside

Milton began to lose his sight in 1644, but

went completely blind in February 1652.

He died on November 8, 1674 in London,

England

About the Poet

During his time, Milton was more famous as a servant of the government of Oliver Cromwell, the "Lord Protector" of England during the period between the kings Charles I and Charles II

Charles I had been beheaded, and Cromwell turned the government into a republican commonwealth, which is to say, not a monarchy

About the Poet

Milton was a Puritan

Milton was a big-time supporter of the commonwealth government, and he used his incredible powers of persuasion on behalf of Puritan rule in essays published in pamphlets.

About the Poet

Milton went blind a few years after the Puritans gained power.

The twist in Milton's case is that he went blind before he wrote his best works, including the immortal epic poem Paradise Lost.

In “On His Blindness” sonnet he worries about how he can serve God even with this condition. Many scholars date the poem to 1655

The Poem

On his blindness

This is a very religious poem.

On His Blindness - 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 dear to hide,Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and presentMy true account, lest He returning chide,'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?'I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not needEither man's work or his own gifts. Who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His StateIs Kingly: thousands at his bidding speedAnd post o'er Land and Ocean without rest;They also serve who only stand and wait.'

Summary

"When I think of how I have lost my vision even before middle age, and how I am unable to use my best talent to serve God, I want to ask if God requires his servants to work for him even if they don't have vision.”

But before he can speak up, a figure called Patience answers his question. Patience is like, "You think God needs your work? No, man. His best servants are the ones who bear life's burden the best. He already has thousands of people running around across land and sea to serve him. You can just stand right there and wait on him, and that's enough."

When I consider how my light is spent,

The poet is thinking of how well his light has been used up. (spent)

His life

How well he has used it

Contemporary comparison

It would be like someone comparing his vision to a flashlight that runs out of batteries before it is supposed to. Milton is suggesting that he got a bad deal.

2 Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide

He is thinking of how he has spent his life before his blindness. Now he is spending his days in darkness.

Ere: before

Half of his life he could see – the other half he is now spending in blindness

Dark world: he is blindWide world: in darkness everything seems endless

Alliteration: world and wide

And that one talent which is death to hide

Talent: the gift of writing

He can’t write now because he is blind

4. Lodged with me useless,

The talent of writing poetry is now useless because the poet cannot see.

Lodged: he is stuck with this talent

5 though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker

He wants to use his talent (writing) to serve his Maker.

Maker: God

Soul more bent: his soul now seems determined to use this talent.

To serve there with my Maker and present,my true account ,lest he returning chide.

Maker=reference to God Chide =criticize True account = his good work He only wants to serve God with his talent He did not use his talent and now he is

worried that God criticize him. returning chide: God will return. He is afraid God will

scold him for not proving what he has done with his talent.

and present: he wants to give to God something. When he is faced with God, he wants to have a record of accomplishment to show Him.

God is being compared with the lord from the "Parable of the Talents" in Matthew 25. When God "returns" to him like the master in the parable, the speaker wants to show that he has used his talents profitably.

‘Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?’

Exact: authority / expectancy

How can God expect him to work a full day, if He withholds his eyesight?

The poet suddenly wonders if God is fair in expecting him to make something of his talent when he is blind.

Metaphor

God is compared with an employer: will God expect a worker to work when there is no light?

Say, building a house or plowing a field at night without electricity.

I fondly ask, but Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies

Fondly: The word "fondly" means "foolishly," not "lovingly." The speaker accuses himself of being an idiot for even thinking this question.

He shows God he asks this question as someone who loves Him and not as someone who judges God.

I fondly ask, but Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies

"Patience" to the rescue! Patience is personified as someone who can talk sense into the speaker.

Patience is often personified in Christian art because of its role in helping one to achieve important virtues like courage and wisdom.

I fondly ask, but Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies

Personification: of the virtue (patience) and he answers himself

Prevent: The speaker is about to "murmur" his foolish question about whether God would be so cruel as to make impossible demands of work, but then his patience steps in to stop him. The rest of the poem is the reply made by patience.

Murmur: argue/ complain

‘God doth no needEither man’s work or his own gifts:

First, patience points out that God does not need anything. God is complete and perfect. He doesn't need work or talents ("gifts") of any kind.

Who best bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.

Patience doesn't want to make God sound like a slave driver, so God's yoke is called "mild," or not-that-bad. It's not how much you have to show for your time on earth that counts, it's how you handle your submission to God.

The image of an ox being yoked is used here.

The one who copes well with the mild burden God has given them, serves God well.

The poet’s yoke is his blindness. If he accepts his blindness and copes with it, he serves God well.

God rules like a true King. He is a king.

The final point made by patience is that God is like a king, not a lord, so the "Parable of the Talents" does not strictly apply.

Lords need everyone on their estates to work for them; they usually don't have the resources to spend on keeping servants just to stand around and wait on them.

His State is Kingly:

Kings, on the other hand, have unlimited resources, especially if they control a "state" as large as the entire earth.

But kings also have people who "wait" on them, who stand in a state of readiness until their action is needed.

Kingly: to be proud

thousands at his bidding speedand post o’er Land and Ocean without rest

With His kingly status, God has plenty of minions to do His "bidding" by rushing from place to place – that is, doing things that require light and vision.

They also serve who only stand and wait

Kings also have people who "wait" on them, who stand in a state of readiness until their action is needed.

Stand and wait: are ready

Analysis

Milton loved the classics, and in the 17th century, "classic" meant anything associated with Ancient Greece or Rome.

 What’s Up With the Title?

This sonnet first appeared in Milton's 1673 collection of Poems simply as the nineteenth sonnet in the collection, or Sonnet XIX. Many readers, including us, refer to it by the first line, "When I consider how my light is spent." Identifying a poem by the first line is standard practice in the poetry world.

Some critics think that Milton's blindness gave him an uncanny ability to depict light, darkness, and shadow. This sonnet offers pretty strong evidence for that claim.

"Darkness visible." Wow. Milton's blindness proved to him that one can "see" even without light.

John Milton’s Calling CardWhat is the poet’s signature style?

Themes of poem

Theme of Guilt and Blame

The speaker's mind is a big ball of guilt and confusion. He takes pride in his vast intelligence, but worries that he failed to use his "light" when he had it.

Themes of poem

Dreams, Hopes and Plans

Before going blind, the speaker has high hopes for what he might accomplish in the future. He says he would have been a supremely useful servant of God.

Themes of poem

Accepting the love of God unconditionally even though you have a physical disability.

God will always love you no matter what happens to you in life.

Type of Poem

Sonnet – It comes from the Italian word “sonetto” which means little song. Some early sonnets were set to music, with accompaniment by a lute.

Lute (loot)

The first stanza presents a theme, and the second stanza develops it.

Rhyme scheme:

1.First stanza (Octave) A B B A, A B B A

2. Second Stanza (Sestet)

C D E , C DE

Octave – Total Darkness

Sestet – “Patience" presents a different view of the world. In this view, the world is a huge kingdom with thousands and thousands of servants working to achieve God's will.

Meter and Rhyme

The meter of the poem is classic iambic pentameter, with five iambs (an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable). Some of the lines do not fit the pattern exactly, but the pattern itself is clear:

  "Doth God ex-act day-la-bor, light

de-nied?"

Enjambment

One line runs over into the next

without a pause.

My true account, lest He returning chide,'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?'I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not

needEither man's work or his own gifts. Who best

Volta

Volta-( Italian: “turn”) the turn in thought in a sonnet that is often indicated by such initial words as But, Yet, or And yet.

Most Italian sonnets have a sharp thematic turn or "volta" between the two sections, but in this poem the turn is a bit muddled between lines 8 and 9.

On His Blindness - 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 dear to hide,Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and presentMy true account, lest He returning chide,'Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?'

I fondly ask. But Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not needEither man's work or his own gifts. Who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His StateIs Kingly: thousands at his bidding speedAnd post o'er Land and Ocean without rest;They also serve who only stand and wait.'

 What’s Up With the Title?

The problem with this title is that it

didn't come from Milton. It was given almost a hundred years later by Bishop Newton, a writer and clergyman.

About the Title

This sonnet first appeared in Milton's 1673 collection of Poems simply as the nineteenth sonnet in the collection, or Sonnet XIX. Many readers, including us, refer to it by the first line, "When I consider how my light is spent." Identifying a poem by the first line is standard practice in the poetry world.

Trivia

 Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of

Knowledge   As an ancient currency, a "talent"

was equivalent to 60 "mina" or 3,000 "shekels." That's about $720,000 U.S. Good to know, right? As a measure of weight, a "talent" is about 75 pounds. (P 30,240,000)

Bring On the Tough Stuff

1. When did Milton wrote his sonnet “On His Blindness”?

Answer:

The sonnet “On His Blindness” may have been written in 1652.

Question

2. What type of sonnet is “On His blindness”?

Bring On the Tough Stuff

  1. How do you know this poem is

about blindness? What if it were not about blindness at all? In that case, what would the "light" represent?

Question

3. What type of sonnet is “On His blindness”?

Answer

Here talent means gift (poetic gift given to him by God).

Talent originally means one gold coin. It has the allusion to the Biblical story of one gold coin given by a master to his servant and the servant did not use the talent.

Question

4. ‘Who best bear His mild yoke’ What is the ‘mild yoke’?

Answer

• Mild yoke means the gentle rule of God.

Question

5. ‘They also serve who only stand and wait.’

What does Milton mean by ‘stand and wait’?

Answer

‘Stand and wait’ means remain firm in faith and devotion to God.

Question

 How do you know this poem is

about blindness? What if it were not about blindness at all? In that case, what would the "light" represent?

Question

What is your own particular "talent"?

Do you think this talent could ever be threatened by external circumstances, like some kind of unlucky event or accident?