Why Milton asks “Do God exact day labour,light deneid?”
The sonnet 'on his blindness' is a heart rendering personal document which brings us close
to the mind and heart of the blind poet. It brings out the poet's sense of mission, his anguish
at his early blindness, and his unshaken faith in God and religion.
The first seven and a half lines of this poem are one big, long, confusing sentence. "When I
think of how I have lost my vision even before middle age, and how I am unable to use my
best talent to serve God, I want to ask if God requires his servants to work for him even if they
don't have vision. Milton want to know about his talent that’s why he asks to god “Doth God
exact day-labour, light denied?
Hopeless and bitter, the speaker makes some valid points: how can God give us a destiny to
fulfil but deny us the means to attain it?
The speaker thinks about how all of his light has been used up ("spent") before even half his
life is over. As a man without light, he now lives in a world that is both "dark and wide."
When he is faced with God, he wants to have a record of accomplishment to show Him. If the
poet turns out to have wasted his profits, he worries that God will scold or "chide" him. And
if God is anything like the lord from the parable, the speaker could get cast into a darkness
even more fearful than the one created by his blindness.
God is being compared with the lord from the "Parable of the Talents" in Matthew 25. When
God "returns" to him like the master in the parable, the speaker wants to show that he has
used his talents profitably.
The speaker has just told us that his talent is as useless as money buried in the desert, but
now he says that his uselessness has nothing to do with a lack of will. To the contrary, his soul
desires (is "bent") to use his skills in the service of his "Maker," God.
The speaker doesn't have any light because he's blind, but in Milton's metaphor he compares
this condition to having to do work at night that you would normally do during the day – like,
say, building a house or ploughing field.
2
It has taken the speaker six lines to get through the part of the sentence that begins "When."
Now he goes on to say what happens "when" he thinks about all the stuff he has described
above. Namely, he wonders if God demands that people undertake hard, physical work, or
"day-labour," when they don't have any light. Milton gets rather impatient at the thought of
his blindness. He is blind in the middle age. Blindness prevents him from using his poetic talent
by writing something great to glorify God. He has a keen desire to serve God by using his
poetic talent, because he knows that God wants man to use his God-given power or he may
be punished. In an impatient mood Milton doubts if God would be just in demanding work
from a blind man like him.
The word "exact" means something like "charge," "claim," or "demand." You can "exact" a
toll or a fee, for example. So the speaker wants to know if God demands work as a kind of
payment that is due to Him.
The first section of the poem is completed by the words "I fondly ask." The word "fondly"
means "foolishly," not "lovingly." The speaker accuses himself of being a idiot for even
thinking this question.
"On his Blindness” is very emblematic of the puritan era. Earlier, when Catholicism was more
prevalent as the major religion of England, there was no space for religious doubt. Expressing
religious doubt was seen to be tantamount to heresy. However, with the rise of the
Protestants, followed by the Reformation, followed by the dawn of the puritan era, man
began to explore his doubt. Only by confronting doubt could he make his faith stronger.
Milton was well aware of this fact, and so he put it to good use in this poem. That is why this
poem is as famous as it is.
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The sonnet 'on his blindness' is a heart rendering personal document which brings us close
to the mind and heart of the blind poet. It brings out the poet's sense of mission, his anguish
at his early blindness, and his unshaken faith in God and religion.
The first seven and a half lines of this poem are one big, long, confusing sentence. "When I
think of how I have lost my vision even before middle age, and how I am unable to use my
best talent to serve God, I want to ask if God requires his servants to work for him even if they
don't have vision. Milton want to know about his talent that’s why he asks to god “Doth God
exact day-labour, light denied?
Hopeless and bitter, the speaker makes some valid points: how can God give us a destiny to
fulfil but deny us the means to attain it?
The speaker thinks about how all of his light has been used up ("spent") before even half his
life is over. As a man without light, he now lives in a world that is both "dark and wide."
When he is faced with God, he wants to have a record of accomplishment to show Him. If the
poet turns out to have wasted his profits, he worries that God will scold or "chide" him. And
if God is anything like the lord from the parable, the speaker could get cast into a darkness
even more fearful than the one created by his blindness.
God is being compared with the lord from the "Parable of the Talents" in Matthew 25. When
God "returns" to him like the master in the parable, the speaker wants to show that he has
used his talents profitably.
The speaker has just told us that his talent is as useless as money buried in the desert, but
now he says that his uselessness has nothing to do with a lack of will. To the contrary, his soul
desires (is "bent") to use his skills in the service of his "Maker," God.
The speaker doesn't have any light because he's blind, but in Milton's metaphor he compares
this condition to having to do work at night that you would normally do during the day – like,
say, building a house or ploughing field.
2
It has taken the speaker six lines to get through the part of the sentence that begins "When."
Now he goes on to say what happens "when" he thinks about all the stuff he has described
above. Namely, he wonders if God demands that people undertake hard, physical work, or
"day-labour," when they don't have any light. Milton gets rather impatient at the thought of
his blindness. He is blind in the middle age. Blindness prevents him from using his poetic talent
by writing something great to glorify God. He has a keen desire to serve God by using his
poetic talent, because he knows that God wants man to use his God-given power or he may
be punished. In an impatient mood Milton doubts if God would be just in demanding work
from a blind man like him.
The word "exact" means something like "charge," "claim," or "demand." You can "exact" a
toll or a fee, for example. So the speaker wants to know if God demands work as a kind of
payment that is due to Him.
The first section of the poem is completed by the words "I fondly ask." The word "fondly"
means "foolishly," not "lovingly." The speaker accuses himself of being a idiot for even
thinking this question.
"On his Blindness” is very emblematic of the puritan era. Earlier, when Catholicism was more
prevalent as the major religion of England, there was no space for religious doubt. Expressing
religious doubt was seen to be tantamount to heresy. However, with the rise of the
Protestants, followed by the Reformation, followed by the dawn of the puritan era, man
began to explore his doubt. Only by confronting doubt could he make his faith stronger.
Milton was well aware of this fact, and so he put it to good use in this poem. That is why this
poem is as famous as it is.
DOWNLOAD
************************
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