This sonnet was written by John Milton in the 1650s to express his feelings about losing his sight. In the first stanza, Milton reflects on how his "light" or vision was taken from him before his life was half over. He worries that his talent for writing poetry is now "useless" since he is blind. In the second stanza, the figure of Patience reassures Milton that God does not require works or talents from humans. Those who accept their circumstances patiently are serving God well. The poem uses the metaphor of God as a king with many servants to illustrate that Milton can still serve by waiting faithfully on God.

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. On his blindness
This is a very religious poem.

7. When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that oneTalent which is dear 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.'

8. "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."

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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 blind
Wide world: in darkness everything seems
endless
Alliteration: world and wide

12. Talent: the gift
of writing
He can’t write now because he is blind

13. The talent of writing poetry is now
useless because the poet cannot see.
Lodged: he is stuck with this talent

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. God is being compared with the lord from the
"Parable of theTalents" 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.

17. 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.

18.  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.

19.  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.

20. "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.

21. 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

22. 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.

23. 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.

24.  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.

25. 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.

26. 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

27. 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.

28.  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

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

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. 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)

36. 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

38. 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 achieveGod's will.

40. 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?"

42. 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 prevent
That murmur, soon replies, 'God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts.Who best

43. 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.

44. When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that oneTalent which is dear 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. ButPatience, 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.'

45. 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.

46. 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.

47. Brain Snacks:TastyTidbits 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)

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

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

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

51. 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?

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

53. 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.

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

55. • Mild yoke means the gentle rule of
God.

56. 5. ‘They also serve who only stand and wait.’
What does Milton mean by ‘stand and wait’?

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

58. 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?

59. 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?