On His Blindness
by
John Milton
(Poem & Summary & Analysis)
The poem is about the poet himself. He became blind
at an early age, which he calls as half of his life. Due to blindness, the
whole world is dark and gloomy. The gift of being a creative writer and poet,
which has been accorded to him by the God is now useless for him. Though the
gift or skill given to him by the God would remain with him till death, but he
will not be able to use it.
As God has taken away his eye sight, he has become
more submissive and wants to serve God with his poetic power. He was greatly
inclined to write poetry in praise of God and present to him a true account of
his writings. He wants to do this, so that God may not snub him after his
death.
He mildly wants to ask God, that how can be
required to do work equal to any normal person, in spite of his total blindness.
In the answer to this heart felt feeling of the poet, his conscience comes to
his rescue to tell, that he must keep patience as God does not want anything
from man. God’s Kingdom is very rich and splendid. Thousands of angels are
every time ready to act on God’s command. They carry out God’s wishes on land
and sea without rest. The mortals on Earth cannot serve God at this speed, so
they must wait in silence for his mercy. Milton says, that those who are not
able to serve God should simply stand in service of God and wait for their
chance to receive mercy of God.
On His Blindness
(The
Poem)
"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 finest sonnets in
English poetry. It is an autobiographical sonnet and brings before us the
personality and character of the blind poet, John Milton. Milton became blind
in 1652, when he was 44 years of age. Milton’s life was full of gloom and
despair and he was overcome by sadness and grief.
At this time, his learning of religious and
biblical literature came to his rescue. His faith in God and religion comes
forth in this sonnet. His strong faith in God and belief in the benignity come
to help him. The God always shows mercy on everyone. This philosophy is very
near to Indian philosophy of the Vedas and the Bhagwat, which teach man to do
his duty towards God and Society and have faith in the deeds of God. Everything
done by God is essential and is being done for ultimate good of mankind.
Milton is also conscious about his life after
death. In spite of being blind, he wants to make use of his poetic power so
thus after death when he is presented before God, the God may not reproach him.
When his inner self tries to make a complaint against God, as to how he could
be able to do full work when he is blind, he is shown the right path by
patience. Patience if being personified in the poem.
Patience tells him that God would not make query
about his work, as God has thousands of very efficient angels, who work to carry
out commands of God all the time over land and sea without taking any rest.
Patience advises, that a man should accept all the pleasures and pain afflicted
by God and in spite of being in pain, one should not complain and bear them in
spirit of calmness. The last line of the sonnet explains the purpose of the
poet. One should have devotion and faith in God and work with all his capacity
and wait patiently for mercy of God. There are the true devotees of God, who do
not complain and silently wait for their turn to have mercy of God.
The supremacy of God and complete faith in God is
the basic theme of this sonnet. This is one of the noblest poems in English
language. This autobiographical poem raises the complaint of a person against
God and then gives the solution also. It is a complete poem in this sense. It
raises a genuine complaint and then provided the solution for accepting the
afflictions of God with calmness and faith. These two, are the qualities which
one must have towards the maker.
The sonnet tells us that faith and confidence in
God should not be shaken in anyway. As only such persons are loved by God and
are amply rewarded, we find that this has been prove in the life of Milton as
well. His major and legendary compositions were written by him when he was
blind. Milton will always be remembered and praised for ‘Paradise Lost’,
‘Paradise Regained’, and ‘Samson Agonistes’, the masterpieces which he wrote
when he was blind.
Milton is the master of grand style. We find
glimpses of this in the present sonnet as well. The language used is learned
and is a mixture of Latinism, archaism and Italian phraseology. Milton adopted
Petrarchan style in writing this sonnet. He brought back the sonnet to its
original and strict type, which Petrarch had fixed. The first eight lines are
called Octave while the last six lines are sestet. His octave has run into the
sestet. The rhyming scheme is: abba, cddc, ffg ffg.
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