Analysis of On His Blindness

When I consider how my light is spent

E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,

And that one Talent which is death to hide,

Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present5

My true account, least he returning chide,

Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,

I fondly ask; But patience to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts, who best10

Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait.

In the text I am going to analyse John Milton’s poem On His Blindness, written during the 17th century.

Since from the title I expect the poem to be about someone who is blind, that is a metaphor for someone who is not able to understand what’s going on around him. You have also to remember that Milton was blind too.

Considering the layout you can notice there is not a pattern, so that the poem is made up by a single stanza. As a result the poet presents his thesis, thoughts or ideas as a unicuum.

As you can notice in the first lines, the lyrical I is middle-aged and he is explaining his life and his relationship with his “one talent”, which is considered “useless” and “lodged” - so it is not exploited by the speaking voice. As a consequence, lines 1 to 3 create a “weak” speaking voice, who is not capable of giving meaning to his qualities, so it is not able to live, and that is why he could be described as “blind”. His weakness is also connoted by the expressions “the dark world and wide” and “though my soul more bent to serve”. In the first one, alliteration of sounds “d” and “w” presents places around the lyrical I as too big and too dark for him: the blindness returns. The second one implies a lack of self control as well as a tendency to be submissed by someone (“bent to serve”). 

From line 5 you can notice a new character, God, who is at first called “my Maker” (line 5). The speaking voice fears God, who chided him several times because of the wasted talent. The poem goes on with a rhetorical question that hypothesizes a parallelism between the lyrical I and God. If God required everybody to exploit their talents, even if they are weak, or blind, God would be blind too. However, it is not possible: God is almighty, and that’s why he recognises also who “stands and waits” as his servant, despite the condition of who better “bears his mild yoak” is better, like a king’s one.

The structure of the lines is similar to the biblical parable of the talents, very important for Puritans because it made up the structure of their mindset, giving importance to work and to a deep exploitation of talents. As a result it seems as if Milton would like to criticise Puritans’ attitude and their busy lives. Milton gives you a new vision of the parable, which consists not only of money and economy and success, but also of waiting, patience, self-knowledge: you have to be in peace with yourself to be considered servant of God and -so- great