On His Twenty-Third Birthday
by
John Milton
(Poem & Summary & Analysis)
This sonnet is a reflection about Milton, himself,
at the age of twenty-three. In it, he assesses himself in terms of his personal
maturity, suggesting that he doesn't appear to be as mature as others of his
age, but that he may be more mature than he appears. Maturity here can be
interpreted in terms of achievement and accomplishment, as well as in personal
growth and understanding.
All that he is and all that he might become, he
hopes, will be a fulfillment of God's will. Milton is thought to have written
the sonnet shortly after graduating from Cambridge University, and the poem is
very consistent with the thoughts of a young man who has completed the early
phase of his life and is about to move into a wider world.
On His Twenty-Third Birthday
(The
Poem)
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th,
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy sprits indu'th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To the same lot, however mean, or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As
ever in my great Task - Master's eye.
The sonnet was written when Milton was twenty-three
years old. It expresses his disappointment at his non achievement. He is
painted to realize that he has not achieved anything and not composed any poem
of good worth. Milton feels that twenty-three years have passed very quickly.
Time has stolen his youth. Now his youth age is almost over. In his mature age
he has no poetic output worth mentioning. He says that his physical appearance
is quite youthful. By looking at him people may not judge that he has reached
manhood. His mental faculties have not fully developed and thus the poetic
talents have yet not begun to reveal themselves. In this respect he is less
fortunate than those whose natural gifts bear fruits in proper course of time
in their life.
The mood of the poet changes in sestet of this
sonnet. He says that he is under the will of God and the time will give him
success and opportunity. Milton says that everything in his life is under the
supervision and care of God, if only he has grace to use it. As a true devotee
and servant to his great Task Master, the God, he is waiting for God's will to
grant him success.
This sonnet is about Milton himself. This sonnet is
titled as "On being arrived at twenty-three years of age". It has
been published under this title in "The English Poems of John Milton"
by Oxford University Press, London in 1931.
Milton was determined to be a great poet and from
his childhood he was seriously involved in his preparation to achieve his goal.
Though he had shown adequate proof of his poetic genius while at Cambridge but
he himself was not fully satisfied with all that.
In the octave of this sonnet, the poet expresses
his disappointment on not achieving his high ambitions in poetic field. He is
sad, that his youthful years have gone astray without any big achievement.
In the sestet, his mood appears to be changed. He
says that all his life is under the eye of God, his great Task-Master. It
appears that the poet is no longer disappointed. He has full faith in God's
supervision. He has dedicated his abilities to God. God will choose the
appropriate time to make him successful with his poetic powers. And we know
that God gave him power to compose his masterpieces when he was blind. Milton
proved to be the greatest poet of his times.
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