E Text 1.6

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उ Higher Education Department of Government of Madhya Pradesh
Subject English Literature
Class and Year B. A. First Year
Course Code and Title A1-ELIT2P
Study of Poetry (Paper 2, Theory)
Program Certificate
Paper Major Subject
Module Title 1.6 John Milton – Life and Works in Brief;
Analysis and critical appreciation of On

His Blindness
Content Writer Dr Shraddha Ashapure, Assistant
Professor, Model college, Jhabua
Key Words John Milton, Life, career, Renaissance,
Reformation Lycidas, critical analysis
On his blindness
B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

E- Text John Milton – Life and Works in Brief;
Analysis and critical appreciation of On His Blindness
2
e of Content
Topic details
S. No.
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. Summary
4. Learn more
5. Assessment
6. References
1. Learning Outcomes
Students studying this module will be expected to develop an advanced knowledge of a
diverse range of work by Milton.
• Read closely and understand life and works of Milton
• Develop appreciation for Milton’s contribution in English Literature.
• Develop literary taste.
• Learn to analysis poetry.
• Able to critically evaluate the sonnet On His Blindness by Milton.

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2. Introduction
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was a political figure and essayist
who is also regarded as one of England's finest poets
John Milton's most important contribution to English literature was Paradise Lost, widely
regarded as the greatest epic poem in the English language. Apart from several other
major poems, Milton also wrote inspiring political discussion which influenced English
thought and prose for generations. He is an English poet of monumental magnitudes.
He is super significant and gifted poet. He was strong-willed; he was versatile, he was a
free-thinker, and he loved thought-provoking popular institutions and modes of thought.
John Milton's poem “On His Blindness” is a renowned autobiographical sonnet. This
poem deals with spiritual/ physical pain of the writer. The poem is written in the first-
person narration, where the poet wailings about his loss of sight. Due to the pain of
being blind, Milton starts the poem in acrimonious tone. The poet realizes the fact that
God does not need man’s service, and does not take away the talents He has given to
man. The people who accept all the struggles of life without questioning God serve him
the most. Thus, the poem ends with a positive note. The poem describes Milton’s
philosophy of life.
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist,
man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver
Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known
for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse. John Milton died in
England in November 1674. There is a monument dedicated to him in Poet’s Corner in
Westminster Abbey in London.

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On His Blindness is a poem in which Milton reflects and restores his faith as he is
turning blind. "On His Blindness" centers on Milton's faith in God as he is losing his
sight. The poem is a sonnet that uses figurative language to express Milton's anxiety,
frustration, and acceptance. he poem On His Blindness is an autobiographical sonnet in
which he expresses his feelings as a blind person. The poet thinks, in the beginning,
that he will not be able to serve God as his sight is gone. As the poem develops, he
begins to believe that God wants him to keep working, in spite of the fact that his job
caused him to lose his sight. In the end, he is assured that he is serving God like the
angels who just wait for the orders of God. The poem has a number of Biblical
references that depict Milton’s firm credence in God. The poem is written in the
Petrarchan rhyme scheme.
John Milton Biography
• He was a celebrated English poet, historian and civil servant for Commonwealth
and pamphleteer.
• He is measured to be one of the great writers in England

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• John Milton is the first and certainly the last outstanding incredible blind poet of
remarkable unmatched capability who wrote his magnum opus after losing his
eye sight at the age of 44.
• He witnessed a time of political turmoil and religious instability which is
effectively mirrored in his works.
• On December 9, 1608 John Milton was born in London. His parents were John
Milton, Sr. and Sarah Jeffery. John Milton, Sr. was an established copyist who
also experimented in real estate and was noted as a musician of liturgical church
music. Milton’s parents were well-off enough that in due course they owned a
second house in the country.
Schooling
Milton was a student at prestigious St. Paul's school, US which was committed to the
great church of the same name. Milton spent eight years there and came out as a pretty
cutting-edge intellectual. He had also learned Latin and was skilled in Greek and
Hebrew, had a dash of French, and knew Italian well enough to write sonnets in it.
In 1625, Milton matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, aiming to become a
minister. But, Milton's capability with language and his abilities as a poet soon made the
ministry a lesser thought. Also, Milton was not contented with the out-of-date pedagogic
prospectus that still existed at Christ's College. This discontentment instigated him to

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become tangled in recurrent disagreements, including some with his tutor William
Chappell. In 1626, possibly for this clash or maybe because of some other trivial
desecration, Milton was suspended for a short-term period. However, the rustication did
not hinder his headway through the school in any noteworthy way.
In March of 1629, Milton passed his BA and three years later, in July 1632, completed
work on his MA. In finishing these degrees, Milton had already become an
accomplished poet. His first significant effort was the Christmas ode "On the Morning of
Christ's Nativity." he completed L'Allegro and Il Penseroso ("The Cheerful Man" and
"The Pensive Man") while in college they do establish the genius that was within him.
Initial Legendary Work
After Milton's graduation, he did not think of the ministry. In its place, he commenced a
six-year vacation at his father's newly acquired country estate of Horton with the
quantified purpose of becoming a poet. Comus, a Masque, was written about this time.
In 1637, Milton suffered from two tragic losses, his mother died of the plague and that
same year Edward King, one of his Cambridge friends, a young minister, died in a
boating accident. All the fellow students of Cambridge wanted to make a
commemorative volume of poetry for their departed friend. Milton wrote an elegy named
Lycidas in the fond memory of his dear deceased friend wherein he poured out his
creative pinnacle and the poem has become one of the most recognized elegiac poems
in English.

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Impacts of Overseas
Milton paid a prolonged visit to continental Europe after spending several years at
Cambridge and six more at Horton. Such an expedition was regarded as the zenith of
the education of a refined young man. In Paris, in May of 1638, he met the renowned
Dutch legal scholar and theologian Hugo Grotius. He was deeply inspired by the
Grotius' ideas on natural and positive law which is later reflected in his political writings.
In Italy, Milton met a number of important men who would have influence on his writing.
In Florence, he most likely met Galileo, who was under house arrest by the Investigation
for his heliocentric views of the solar system. Milton had a lifelong captivation with
science and innovative inventions and discovery. We can find interesting glimpse of
such scientific temper of Milton in his Book VIII of Paradise Lost like the telescope and
planetary motions.
Milton returned to London, in 1638 and one year later that is in 1639, he took the
occupation of a schoolmaster.

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Career profile and Matrimony
By 1641 Milton began writing prose pamphlets on contemporary church disagreements.
The political environment was stimulating as Charles I conquered Scotland, and the
Long Parliament was organized. In 1641 Milton wrote pamphlets entitled Of
Reformation, Of Prelatical Episcopacy, and Animadversions. The Civil War began in
1642 and Milton was deeply impacted by it. In the same year he entered into wedlock
with a 16-year-old young girl Mary Powell, daughter of a Royalist family from Oxford but
due to some personal conflicts, a month after the marriage, Mary returned to Oxford to
live with her family. While at about this same time Milton's brother, Christopher was also
announced as a Royalist.
Mary Powell's desertion of Milton left him heart broken and devastated, he published the
pamphlet On the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce in 1643 than in 1644 he wrote On
Education and Areopagitica. Each of these works focused on the need for individual
liberty. The ideas may seem so common place in today’s scenario but in the 1640s,
they were so deep-seated that Milton acquired the nickname, "Milton the divorcer."

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A new leaf turned in his life when after 3 years of living a lonely and love less life his
wife came back and this happy reunion happened in 1645.In the same year Charles I
had lost the Battle of Naseby and also any anticipation for military triumph. The family of
Powell, confirmed Royalists, were now in peril. They were expelled from their home in
Oxford as Charles' power declined. Mary’s entire family had moved in to live with her
and her spouse within the same year. This was completely unexpected for Milton but he
had no option left but to bear the responsibility of having such a large household.
In 1646 his first collection of poetry, entitled Poems, was published the volume included
Lycidas, Comus, and "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity." In July, he was blessed to be
the father of his first daughter, Anne.
Misfortune hit him again when coincidently both his father-in-law, Richard Powell, and
his own father died. Milton was left with a reasonable estate. But this led all the relatives
of Mary Powell relatives who were living with the couple to move back to Oxford. Now
they were turned from a large joint family into a nuclear family with just Milton and his
wife and daughter, they shifted into a smaller home in High Holborn. The close-knit
family gave birth to mirth and contentment. Milton was again blessed by the birth of his
second daughter, Mary in 1648.
The year 1649 marked a pivotal change in Milton's life when Charles I was murdered.
This event was tormenting for him.

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Last phase
In 1652 Milton suffered from the most shocking accident During 1652 of losing his
eyesight gradually which had been growing feebler because of glaucoma. At the age of
44 by 1652, Milton was absolutely blind. Fate was not satisfied with this torture he was
destined to suffer another painful loss of his son John who was born in 1651 who died
under enigmatic conditions. He was not even recovered from this tragedy the suddenly
his wife Mary Powell expired from difficulties while giving birth to the Milton's third
daughter, Deborah. While he was miserably agonising and lamenting on the separation
of his dear departed ones Pierre du Moulin published a pro-Charles pamphlet Regii
Sanguinis Clamor (Outcry of the King's Blood), to which Milton was ordered to reply.
Milton's response was entitled Defensio Secunda, which was published in 1654. During
this time Milton's friend and associated poet Andrew Marvell, was working as his

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assistant. Milton was also allowed to cut back on his official labours and to use a
secretary as an assistant.
Despite his private and health problems, Milton continuously enriched his literary
wealth. His chief special project in the 1650s was De Doctrina Christiana, a work in
which he tried to state officially all of his religious interpretations. Milton was fed up with
his lonely life so in 1656, he married Katherine Woodcock but unfortunately, she died
two years later in 1658. He wedded for the third time in 1663 to Elizabeth Minshull, who
became his nurse as his health deteriorated in his later years.
By the time of the actual restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Milton was devotedly
working on Paradise Lost. It was his long-cherished dream to in cooperate the
renowned themes of Christianity into his writings. His acquaintance with the Iliad,
Odyssey, Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, and Jerusalem Delivered motivated him to the
epic format. His planning for the ministry as well as the usual inclination of his
Puritanism inspired him towards the theme of Man's fall. In1660s, he worked
meticulously on his epic and in 1667, finally published Paradise Lost, a larger-than-life
epic in ten books. He trailed up his magnum opus with Paradise Regained and Samson
Agonistes in 1671. Milton thus proved that his spark never faded away and his
blindness proved to be blessing in disguise for him because with the loss of his eyesight
he was able to win over so many useless distractions and was able to work on his
literary art with laser focus attention which enabled him to create masterpieces of his
unparalleled genius and established him as a legendary literary artist of all times
beyond all the barriers of continents, cultures and ages.

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In 1674, the second edition of Paradise Lost was published by Milton. He revised it to
make a total of twelve books. Mostly he reorganized rather than rewrote. For instance,
he made what had been Book X into Books XI and XII. After the publication of the
second edition, his health deteriorated, and on November 9, 1674, Milton died of
complications from a gout attack at the age of 66. He was grieved severely by his third
wife and two of his daughters by Mary
Powell and countless admires across the
globe. He rested in peace near his
father's grave in Cripplegate.
Posthumously in 1700, Paradise Lost was documented as one of the benchmarks of
English literature. He will always remain an inspiring source of motivation and wisdom to
the coming generations.

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“On his Blindness”, written by John Milton deals with the autobiography of his own
personal life where he loses his own eyesight. He completely lost his sight during his
later stage of life and this poem shows his experience of it. It is written in a sonnet and
filled with Biblical tone and spirit of Puritanism Milton was a Puritan poet. There is
always a spirit of Puritanism that fill in his themes of the poem. In this sonnet he fears
that he would have no further opportunity of serving God. The sonnet was written in
year 1764 when Milton was completely affected by the disease of blindness. The sonnet
was written in “Petrarchan” style with rhyming scheme of ABBA ABBA CDE CDE. It is
written in iambic parameter.

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The poem initiates with a feeling of marvel and the impulse to create and serve God
through one’s talent. Milton summons his own personal feeling implying that he
“consider how my light is spent” suggest his brooding upon his sight which he had
utilized to serve God. He adds that it has been “Ere half my days” where he lost his
sight at his later age of life and the world crumbled down on him like “dark world and
wide”. He mentions that “one Talent” which suggest the poetic talent gifted by God to
him has become “death to hide”. He feels that his inability to perceive the world has left
his talent “useless” but his “Soul more bent” to serve and create poetry and art about his
“Maker”. The “Maker” is in reference to God and he has to “present” the “true account”
of the talent he had spent on earth or God will “reprimand” him for not using at his later
stage of life.
However, he reflects upon the Puritan spirit of ideologies in the poem. He questions
whether God precisely wants “day-labour” or hard work from the man he “fondly ask”
and after a moment of “patience” the answer comes to him. The answer is the morality
where God do not need “Either man’s work or his own gifts” which proposes the man’s
talent and hard labour but God wants a man who can withstand the mayhems of life and
bear his “mild yoke” implying a weight of shoulder one carry it behind his back “serve
him best”.
Finally, he elaborates the Puritan spirit that the status of God is “Kingly” and there so
many seraphs “at his bidding speed” who “post o’er Land and Ocean without rest”
looking after humanity and serving God. The significant morality that Milton emphasis in
the sonnet is that one should have endurance in life for the good days to come ahead
and he confirms in the last stanza that even the cherubs also serve those “who only
stand and wait” for a refined resolution without being grumpy in life.

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On His Blindness is one of the best of the hallmark sonnets that Milton wrote. The
theme of the sonnet is Milton's concern over his blindness. He is worried that he has
become blind before half of his lifetime is passed. His poetic talent has become useless,
though his soul is more bent to serve his Maker (God) with that talent. He fears that if he
does not serve Him, He may rebuke him. But whenever he contemplates on such
question his soul of patience asks if God weights service from a blind man and it
answers its own question immediately. It says that God does not need either His Own
gifts, or man's service. God's state is magnificent. Thousands of angels’ speed over
land and ocean without rest at His command. His spirit of patience says, they also serve
who stand and wait. Thus, his lost faith is restored and he braces himself again to
devote his life in the service of God.
This sonnet is a countenance of his own health problem, and he himself finds its
solution. In the present sonnet he chose the Italian or Petrarchan form, though some of
the English poets before him wrote in the Shakespearean or English type. But yet he did
not blindly follow the Italian model. In the Italian form of sonnet there is a clear division
between the octave and the sestet, with a fixed rhyme scheme for the octave, and
another for the sestet. But in Milton, we find that the division between the octave and
the sestet is not clear-cut. The syntax tends to overflow the division between the octave
and the sester. For example, in the following lines:
... Doth God exact day-labour, light denied,
I fondly ask; but patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need''
The octave ends with the word “prevent”, but the syntax of the sentence is not
completed. The sentence flows on into the sestet. In an Italian sonnet the octave

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would stop with the end of its eighth line.
with respects to the meter, he has followed the traditional iambic pentameter of the
Italian sonnet form. Of course. There are a good many variations. For example,
And that/one tal/ ent which/ is death/ to hide
Lodg'd with/me use/less though/ my soul/more bent.
In the first line, we observe regular iambic pentameter, but in the second line the first
foot is a trochee. In this way, there are some other variations in the meter used.
The rhetorical devices used in this sonnet are noteworthy. He has embodied the
ethical attribute namely patience and made it to question him and replies this enquiry
proximately. The allegory of God's state being like a king's state is very effective; it
creates a picture of how the divine power works. The poet has used some words with
strong prominence, and so they are very effective in the context of the poem. Words
and phrases like “dark world and wide”, “death to hide”,” chide”,” post over”,” stand and
wait” amplify this impact.
Milton has revealed his poetic supremacy through this sonnet. The poem On His
Blindness by John Milton is about poet’s journey from lamentation over the loss of his
vision to his surrender and reception of Divine’s Determination.

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References
https://images.google.com/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/english-literature-1500-1799-
biographies/john-milton
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-milton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton
https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~creamer/milton/chronology.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgA2vyrTS-4
http://epathshala.nic.in/eresources.php
Brown, C. John Milton. A Literary Life. London: Macmillan,1995. Print.
Danielson, D. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Milton. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1989. Print.
Davies, S. Milton. London: Harvester, 1993. Print
Flannagan, Roy C. “A John Milton Chronology”. Macmillan, December 1997.
https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~creamer/milton/chronology.html
Geisst, C. The Political Thought of John Milton. London:Macmillan,1984. Print.
Lewalski Barbara K 7 September 2002 The Life of John Milton: A Critical Biography
Wiley-Blackwell; 1st edition
Hill, Christopher. Milton and the English Revolution. London: Faber and Faber,1977.
Print
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Hudson, W. H. An Outline History of English Literature. Delhi: A.I.T.B.S. Publishers,
2009. Print
Milton John,Kerrigan William(editor),Rumrich John(editor) 13 November 2007 The
Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton (Modern Library) Hardcover
Milton, John, 1608-1674. (2000). Paradise lost. London ; New York :Penguin Books,
Milton, John, 1608-1674.Abernethy, J. W. (Julian Willis), 1853-1923, ed
Lycidas, Comus, L'allegro, Il penseroso, and other poems, New York, Maynard, Merrill,
& co. [c1906] http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.00141540245
Nicolson, Marjorie Hope. John Milton: A reader’s guide to his poetry. Great Britain:
Thames and Hudson, 1964Print.


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1

उ Higher Education Department of Government of Madhya Pradesh

Subject English Literature

Class and Year B. A. First Year

Course Code and Title A1-ELIT2P

Study of Poetry (Paper 2, Theory)

Paper Major Subject

Module Title 1.6 John Milton – Life and Works in Brief;

Analysis and critical appreciation of On

Content Writer Dr Shraddha Ashapure, Assistant

Professor, Model college, Jhabua

Key Words John Milton, Life, career, Renaissance,

Reformation Lycidas, critical analysis

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

Students studying this module will be expected to develop an advanced knowledge of a

diverse range of work by Milton.

• Read closely and understand life and works of Milton

• Develop appreciation for Milton’s contribution in English Literature.

• Develop literary taste.

• Learn to analysis poetry.

• Able to critically evaluate the sonnet On His Blindness by Milton.

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

who is also regarded as one of England's finest poets

thought and prose for generations. He is an English poet of monumental magnitudes.

free-thinker, and he loved thought-provoking popular institutions and modes of thought.

England in November 1674. There is a monument dedicated to him in Poet’s Corner in

Westminster Abbey in London.

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

frustration, and acceptance. he poem On His Blindness is an autobiographical sonnet in

Petrarchan rhyme scheme.

John Milton Biography

• He is measured to be one of the great writers in England

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

eye sight at the age of 44.

• He witnessed a time of political turmoil and religious instability which is

effectively mirrored in his works.

second house in the country.

In 1625, Milton matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, aiming to become a

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

Initial Legendary Work

boating accident. All the fellow students of Cambridge wanted to make a

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

Career profile and Matrimony

By 1641 Milton began writing prose pamphlets on contemporary church disagreements.

Long Parliament was organized. In 1641 Milton wrote pamphlets entitled Of

Reformation, Of Prelatical Episcopacy, and Animadversions. The Civil War began in

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

the father of his first daughter, Anne.

second daughter, Mary in 1648.

This event was tormenting for him.

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

became his nurse as his health deteriorated in his later years.

working on Paradise Lost. It was his long-cherished dream to in cooperate the

beyond all the barriers of continents, cultures and ages.

B.A. First Year Course Title- Study of Poetry

wife and two of his daughters by Mary

Powell and countless admires across the

globe. He rested in peace near his

father's grave in Cripplegate.

Posthumously in 1700, Paradise Lost was documented as one of the benchmarks of

the coming generations.