On His Blindness by John Milton Questions and Answers (Communication English - I)

1.    How does Milton arrive at the conclusion – “They also served who only stand and wait.”?

As found in the Bible, God has thousands of Angels to carry out his commands without rest. Angels are sent by God to take his message, to protect virtuous people in danger and to execute his judgments. For example, in Luke 1, God sends the Angel Gabriel to Mary to inform her birth of Son of God. In Daniel 6:22, God sends an angel to protect Daniel from the lion’s den. Milton, with the loss of eyesight, feels sorry that he could not serve like these angels. But he consoles himself by saying that he is one of those angels who stand and wait. As his Patience says, they also serve God.

2.    Why does Milton compare himself with one of the servants found in the biblical story?

The parable of the Bags of Gold is found in the Bible, in Matthew 25:14-30. A master gives five bags of gold to his first servant, two bags to his second servant and one bag to his third servant, before his journey. The first two servants doubled the money by investing but the last servant dug a hole and hid the one bag of gold in the ground.  On his return, the master appreciated the first two but rebuked the last one. Milton compares himself with the last servant. He does not use his Master’s gift and may be scolded by God. He couldn’t use the talent (writing skill) given by God due to loss of eyesight.

3.    Justify  “On His Blindness”  as  an autobiographical poem.

Milton became completely blind in 1652 and the poem “On His Blindness” was written after his blindness. The loss of his eyesight is attributed to his restless late night work to serve the Commonwealth Government. The first line of the poem reveals this. Now he feels upset, depressed, frustrated and helpless for being left in the dark wide world. His talent of writing great works remains useless. He is also worried that God may scold him for not using God’s gift. Thus the whole poem deals with the experiences of Milton after blindness and remains a typical autobiographical poem.

4.    Explore Milton’s complaints and religious faith in the poem.

Milton’s chief complaint is that God has taken away his eyesight when he is ready to serve and present his true account. He indirectly blames God why He has made him useless. To him, to hide his talent is death. However his wavering mind soon settles in. Patience starts flowering and his religious faith is strengthened in course of the poem. He thinks that he may not be one of those angels who are serving now but he is definitely one of those angels who stand and wait patiently for the command of God to serve. It is this religious faith that made him to produce the great epics “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained” after the loss of eyesight.

5.    Explain the personification of Patience in the poem.

The act of giving human quality or characteristic to something non-human is called personification. In the poem, On His Blindness, Patience is personified. When Milton grows upset and frustrated and goes almost to the verge of losing faith in God, suddenly he hears the voice of Patience within him. Patience says that God is omnipotent and he does not need anybody’s service. He never expects man to return his own gifts offered to him. It says that one who patiently accepts his present burdensome state also serves God – “Who best bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.” It is Patience that seeds faith into the heart of Milton and makes him realize the grandeur of God.