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Sonnet and its types : • SONNET (SHAKESPEAREAN ...
Archaic words(thou, thy, thine, thee,etc.): • Archaic words |THOU | ...
Enjambment : • Enjambment with notes ...
Alliteration : • Alliteration with note...
alliteration shorts: • alliteration in just 1...
Assonance and consonance : • Assonance and consonan...
Meter : • Meter in Poetry | Iamb...
"When I Consider How My Light is Spent"(Sonnet 19) (Also known as "On His Blindness") is one of the best known of the sonnets of John Milton (1608-1674). The last line, "They also serve who only stand and wait", is much quoted.
The sonnet was first published in Milton's 1673 Poems in his autograph notebook, known as the "Trinity Manuscript" from its location in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Introduction
Likely written in the mid-1650s, after Milton lost his eye-sight, the poem reflects on the physical and spiritual challenges the speaker faces as a blind person. He feels unable to complete the tasks that God has set for him, and worries that he is squandering(wasting) his capacity to serve God. But, in the second half of the poem, the speaker reassures himself by arguing that God does not need human help and that there are many ways to serve him. Like some of Milton’s other poems (for example, “How Soon Hath Time”), the poem thus defends a Protestant position: the idea that salvation comes from faith, rather than work.
Introduction
Line by line analysis -- literary devices/ figures of speech
Summary
Structure
Rhyme Scheme
Themes
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death 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."
Ere : before in time
Light : Vision, eyesight. Here the speaker is referring to the capacity to perceive light: in other words, the speaker can't see.
Lodged : Living with, containing. In other words, the speaker's “Talent” is part of who the speaker is.
Bent : Hoping, desiring, wishing. The word suggests the shape of the speaker's soul, or the direction it tends to move in-as though the speaker's soul has been physically bent in its efforts to please God.
Day labour : Most likely this refers to work done during the day-that is, work that requires light to complete. Milton coined this word, so its exact definition is a matter of interpretation.
Murmur : A low or quiet complaint. The word is one of Milton’s favorites; he often uses it in his later poems to describe unholy, impious responses.
Yoke : A burden or obligation. The word literally describes a device that farmers would use to attach oxen to a cart or plow, so that as the oxen walked forward, they would pull that cart or plow behind them.
Post : To move swiftly; to travel with haste and urgency.
Lest : to prevent
Bidding : the ordering or requesting of someone to do something.
Figures of speech/literary devices used :
assonance
alliteration
Consonance
Enjambment
End stopped line
Personification
Apostrophe
Symbols : light, dark, yoke..
Summary
When I think about how I went blind before I reached the mid-point of my life in this big, dark world; when I consider that my greatest talent-which it would kill me to hide-is now useless, even though I want more than ever to use it to serve God, to prove to him that I’ve made good use of my life, so that he doesn’t rebuke me for the way I’ve spent my life; when I think about all this, I ask, foolishly, “Does God want me to do work that requires sight after denying me that sight?” But my internal sense of patience, in an effort to stop that bad thought, quickly replies: “God doesn’t need man’s work or his gifts. Whoever best obeys God's commands serves him best. He is like a king. Thousands of people rush around at his bidding, crossing land and sea without rest. And those who simply wait for his commands also serve him.”
Structure
The sonnet is in the Petrarchan form, with the rhyme scheme a b b a a b b a c d e c d e but adheres(sticks) to the Miltonic conception of the form, with a greater usage of enjambment. Confusion and then resolution. Iambic pentameter..
Themes
Faith and Work
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