Milton "On His Blindness"

 John Milton (1608-1674) believed from an early age that he would become a great poet. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1629 and afterward continued to study for six year and travel through Europe to enhance his poetic ambition. He had written several shorter poems of exceptional quality by 1650 but had not yet written his great epic Paradise Lost, the poem that would elevate him in the canon of world literature alongside the greatest poets of western civilization. He also wrote many essays on such subjects as the freedom of the press, the monarchy, and the Church of England. However, by 1652 Milton had become completely blind. With the assistance of his daughters and scribes, he would overcome this handicap years later with their help, but before he did, he wondered how God could expect him to perform this one special talent given to him by the Almighty. In his poem, When I consider how my light is spent, Milton ponders the justice of being given this “talent” by God but being rendered incapable of fulfilling it:

When I consider how my light is spent

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere have my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodged within 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 oceans without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

The reader should notice at the outset that Milton’s poem is a Petrarchan sonnet. This sonnet form presents an issue or problem in the first eight lines (the octave), then in line 9 of a Petrarchan sonnet begins the sestet which turns from problem to resolution. In the octave, Milton considers that since he is now blind, “my light is spent,” and “that one talent which is death to hide” is “lodged within me useless,” how can he be expected to “present / My true account,” fulfill his “one talent which is death to hide”? As we read through these lines, we sense an anger surfacing through the words. It is not only that he has suffered a terrible affliction, but that affliction struck him before half his life was over and, more importantly, before he achieved his ambition to compose truly great poetry: “Ere half my days in this dark world and wide.” Now God will “chide” him for his failure even though the means of employing “that one talent” has been stolen from him. And so, he asks, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

As a faithful Puritan, Milton knows his duty is to accept whatever challenges or adversities God sends his way. So, in the sestet, Milton offers a resolution. Or seems to. The resolution actually begins prematurely in the middle of line 8 when “Patience” cautions him: “But Patience, to prevent / That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need / Either man’s work or his own gifts[.]” In these lines, you again might hear resentment as the words of the octave still linger in one’s mind. If God does not need man’s “gifts,” then why would he “chide” him when man becomes bereft of the capacity to offer them up to him. They are followed by Patience’s admonition that he who bears “his mild yoke, they serve him best: his state / Is kingly.” The word “mild” strikes the reader as ironic and the clause “his state / Is kingly” as excessively compensatory. The sestet ends with a balanced, philosophical definition of true service to God:

...Thousands at his bidding speed,
and post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait

Given Milton’s condition, it seems that he could not do much more than become inactive and “stand and wait” though waiting and enduring idly someone such as Milton could withstand. The sonnet suggests that may not be the case, especially when the reader recalls the present verb tenses in the poem, which denote that Milton questioning of God is not a statement from the past but one that is regularly repeated, “When I consider (each time) and that the words “one talent which is death to hide” alludes to the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 in which a servant is punished for not employing the “talents” his master had given him: “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

At 43 years old and blind, Milton peered into the future and “saw” a bleak, unproductive time after which he would be harshly judged by God for idly awaiting the end of his life. He must have been despondent and terrified with what he believed awaited him. Fortunately for him and us, there were those who not only believed in his prodigious talent but also were able to wait patiently, listen to his dictation and transcribe his words for posterity. Some might assert that this sonnet demonstrates Milton’s unshakeable faith and patient submission to God’s will. I did when I first read the poem many years ago, but these days I also hear anger and impatience rising from the page.