Explain: When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days

Explain: When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days 


John Milton's poem, "On His Blindness," speaks to the frustrations
Milton had regarding his lost sight. The poem reflects upon the idea that
he (the speaker of the poem) will not be able to serve God now that his
sight is gone. The following will show each line of the poem and the
meaning of the line/s following.
WHEN I consider how my light is spent,
The speaker is reflecting upon how his light (sight) has been used over
his life. This could also refer to the speaker's spiritual light
The speaker thinks that all of his light is used up before even half his age
is over.Now he lives in world that is both dark wide because he is a man
without light. The metaphor is complicated.The speaker says that his
light can be "spent" and this word suggests that he is thinking of
something like an oil lamp.The light is spent when the oil in the lamp runs
out .To make a contemporary comparison, it would be like someone
comparing his vision to flash light that runs out of batteries before it is
supposed to. Finally calling the word "dark and wide " makes it sound
like a fearful place, interestingly , Milton makes it seem as if the world
has run out of light rather than growing dark because of his blindness.
Comment: The enduring message about blindness seems to be that
it does not prevent us from serving God, and that no matter what state
we find ourselves in, whether blind or subject to some other limitation,
what God wants us to do is to learn to "Bear His mild yoke" and wait and
serve him patiently in the situation that we find ourselves. As much of a
tragedy as Milton's blindness was, this poem is testament to the way that
blindness does not make us less of a person to ourselves or to God.

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