Analyze the theme, poetic form and rhetorical devices of the following poem and develop it into an essay with no less than 200 words (for literature candidates).
On His Blindness
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.”
It is a Petrarchan sonnet, a lyric poem with 14 lines with the rhyme scheme of “ABBA ABBA CDE and CDE”. All the lines are in iambic pentameter. In this metric pattern, a line has five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, for a total often syllables. Line3-6 alludes to the “Parable of the talents”. In this famous parable, an employer who is going away for a time gives his three servants money in proportion to their ability to increase its value. Here, it means that God judges humans on whether they labor for him to the best of their ability. Apart from allusion, Milton also uses other rhetorical devices like alliteration and personification.
The first eight lines of this poem describe the poet's mediation alone in the dark. The last six lines show the vast bright and infinite space, open the realm of the narrow, change the concept of pain into a calm tone.
There are four main themes in this sonnet. One is limitation. Milton believes that his blindness will ruin his chances for using his talents as he once could have done. Without his sight, it becomes even more difficult to create poetry, or even write it down for others to read. The light in the poem becomes another theme. Milton put on light after his sight was gone to see what it meant to him. Not only does it represent the light that is seen with the eyes, but also the spiritual light and the light of life. The day can be a metaphor for life and our lives are limited and once light comes that day is gone forever. Duty and submission are the last two themes. His duty is to make use of the “talents” that have been given to him. At the end, he realizes that God does not need man to do work for Him and that he will be able to serve in another way other than how he had served him before.