Milton’s Blindness

‘When I consider how my light is spent’

Jan 26, 2008 Linda Sue Grimes

Musing on his blindness, 17th century poet John Milton created a new sonnet form. In addition to the Petrarchan and Elizabethan, a new Miltonic sonnet came into being.

John Milton’s sonnet 19, “When I Consider How my Light is Spent,” is his first poem to contemplate the poet’s blindness. His sonnet’s rime scheme resembles the Petrarchan (Italian) form: ABBAABBACDECDE, but unlike the Petrarchan (Italian) which sets up a problem in the octave and resolves it in the sestet, the Miltonic sonnet simply continues addressing the theme set up in the opening lines. If there is a happy resolution to a problem, it is usually quite by happy accident.

First Quatrain: “When I consider how my light is spent“

Because of the way Milton handles the theme in this sonnet, the reader will realize that the speaker pursues the issue in a compartmentalized way as in the Elizabethan (also called Shakespearean or English) sonnet; therefore, a discussion based on quatrains/couplet is in order.

In the first quatrain, the speaker portrays his concern that he is going blind and worries that his “one talent,” his writing, may suffer. He puns the term “talent” alluding to the parable of the talent told in Matthew 25: 14-30. This speaker is similar to the Shakespearean persona who muses and dramatizes his relationship with his writing talent, speaking sometimes to his poems, and others times to his muse.

Second Quatrain: “To serve therewith my Maker, and present”

In the second quatrain, the speaker dramatizes his challenge by humbly querying, "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" He wants to ask such a question, but he knows it would sound impertinent, so he soon finds his patience, which prevents him from asking it so blatantly.

Third Quatrain: “That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need“

Soon the speaker reminds himself through “Patience” that God does not need anything from man, not man’s work nor the gifts any man might fancy himself to possess. Many men possess “talent” and many work tirelessly “bear[ing] [their] mild yoke.” The speaker avers that those who are capable of bending to God’s will are also capable of “serv[ing] him best.

Couplet: “And post o'er land and ocean without rest”

Even though many workers move about in vigorous travel, laboring here and there for God, those who “only stand and wait” are important too. Those who stay in one place and simply toil quietly also serve God.

While the speaker has assuaged his conscience regarding his fulfilling of his mission in life, he has also realized a useful religious tenet that is universal. By dramatizing his musing on his own blindness, he has revealed an important concept that can benefit all of mankind.

The copyright of the article Milton’s Blindness in Poetry is owned by Linda Sue Grimes. Permission to republish Milton’s Blindness in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

John Milton

Blind Milton dictating to his daughters

John Milton