When I read the title, it creates me some expectations: the word “blindness” let me think that the poem is about someone’s blindness, and the pronoun “his” confirms my hypothesis about the poem’s content. But this pronoun doesn’t permit me to know if the poem is narrated by a speaking voice or a third person narrator.

Considering the layout, I notice that the poem is made up of a unique paragraph of fourteen lines, but I understand that it is a sonnet only considering punctuation: there’s a semicolon which divides the poem into two parts, an octave and a sestet (Petrarchian structure).

Then, I have to read the poem to confirm my hypothesis and also to answer the question about the narrator.

After I have read the poem, I understand that it is narrated by a speaking voice. In the octave the narrator asks to himself how he can serve God and exploit his talent with an handicap like the blindness. In the sestet, there is a possible answer to the previous question: patience is a virtue to bear all the illnesses. And who best bear God’s mild joke is also who serves God best.

Moreover, the first two verses confirm my initial hypothesis about speaking voice’s blindness, and the words “useless” and account underline narrator’s question to himself about how he could serve God with his handicap.

In addition to that, the words “Talent”, “Maker”, “God” and “patience” recall Puritanism, which is probably Milton’s religion, and the “Parable of Talents”.

In conclusion, the speaking voice is afraid of the lack of his talents’ exploit due to his handicap, but finally he understands that who best bear God’s mild joke is also who serves God best.