In terms of figurative language, Milton uses 'light' as a metaphor for vision. He therefore does not lose heart or weep like an ordinary man. The title to the poem. The sonnet is replete with abundant pathos. His blindness created a shrouded clarity within his mind. A tremendous cloud was cast over him and darkened his reality of life and the world. He is frustrated over losing half of his vision and felt that the world was dark and wide where his poetic talent was being wasted because of his inability to write.
More on that in the next section. As the octave progresses, John Milton feels betrayed by age and life on the whole during his 23rd year. He has countless divine servants, angels, etc. Milton has used a broad knowledge of scripture to create a very personal poem which moves from loss to understanding and gain. He feels he has attained little from these educational institutions and their so-called educational value.
Much of his poetry was concerned with God's relationship to mankind and he considered it a serious duty to write poetry that simultaneously made God's mysterious ways more clear to people and honored God with its craft. The poet was known to possess a noble and lofty character and his conduct was akin to his nature and temperament. Theme While the poem discusses Milton's blindness, his condition is used to explore his faith. Thus, in the end, the poet is quite satisfied as he is also serving God just by keeping patience. In this specific poem it is very likely that the speaker is identical with the author because Milton became entirely blind shortly before he wrote this sonnet in 1652 Bradford 88. Milton was an ardent advocate of this ideology in his lifetime.
But for this deeply religious poet it may also mean an inner light or spiritual capacity. John Milton was born on December 9 1608. His brain was once clear, set, and on task; but now, it is clouded, unorganized, and fragmented. On yet another level, light signifies the inner light, the spiritual light that shines in the poet. There is more than one way to serve God, and patience is telling the poet that even his waiting or the apparent inaction caused by his blindness can be a kind of service if it meets the criterion of lines 10-11, to bear the yoke well. On His Blindness is a sonnet believed to have been written before 1764, after the poet, , had gone completely blind.
He wanted to serve God profitably just like how the first and second servant had served their Lord in the parable. Perhaps, the struggle within the darkness guides the truth out of the abyss. Furthermore, Milton uses personification to express the importance of words and values. It was in 1651-52 that Milton became completely blind. It is said to be written on 1964, the time in which the poet suffered complete blindness.
This poem would serve as his legacy, and come to be considered among the greatest poems ever written. In the beginning of the sonnet, Milton suggests that his primacy of experience have been deferred when he became blind. Finally the poet concludes that even if he is blind and unable to do any service to Him, he should only remain loyal to Him. Shall he struggle and fight in the webs of darkness, or shall he accept defeat. He feels guilty because he thinks that due to his blindness, he could not anymore serve his purpose. He wonders if God still wants to serve Him in spite of the fact that his sight is gone. Instead one must see any pain and suffering like a service to God.
He is unable to continue as he had been, and he asks and receives and answer to his inner query. Line seven implies that once the usefulness of a man has diminished, then is man doomed to wasting the rest of his remaining days. The third servant, however, only buried his talent. Also during his time of darkness, his patience preserved, stayed strong and never wavered. Milton is frustrated that his lack of sight is preventing him from serving God when he wants to so badly:. But then, the question comes to his mind-Does God demand service even from a blind man? Though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account. The rhyming pattern is slightly off the charts with initial eight lines adhering to A-B-B-A pattern, while the remainder verses are adherent to C-D-E-D-C-E pattern.
Those who bear his dispensations without protest and remain ready for his decrees serve him best. Additionally, an assessment of how these elements affected my response… 1898 Words 8 Pages Jordan Cuthbertson Honors English I Color Blindness April 13, 2015 Thesis: Color Blindness, through rare, effects people in ways no one else can understand except the person effected. The sonnet tells us that Milton became blind when he had run only half the race of his life. The poem is rich in noble ideas, sublime thoughts and unbounded bliss. He wants to show his accomplishments to God. Like Milton's other religious poetry, the purpose is to decide what a person's relationship with God and his or her role on Earth should look like.
He thinks that because of the loss of his eyesight, his poetic talent would be buried deep into his soul and would not anymore see the light of the day. The real essence in living is in abiding by the orders of God. Paradise Lost is just that. Line 2 The poet assumes that his life is not yet half over. His only hope was his faith in the mercy, kindness and justice of God. It was Patience that stopped him from further questioning himself and God.
Once he had graduated, Milton became a big supporter of Oliver Cromwell, a man who opposed the power of the monarchy. Actually they serve him the most who patiently and without a grumble surrender themselves to His will and endure all spiritual, mental and physical sufferings which God may inflict on them. Notes for 'On His Blindness' On His Blindness is a poem in which Milton reflects on his faith as he is turning blind. Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica, written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses of free speech and freedom of the press. Line 6 This line may refer to the second coming of Christ or to the judgement. John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth republic of England under Oliver Cromwell. An allegory is a story in which events and characters stand for some other situation and people.