John Milton’s Sonnet XIX, known as “When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” is a poem considering one’s disabling affliction in light of a time-less truth that the Apostle Paul wrote of: all things work to the good who love God and one thereby learns to be content in all things. Milton’s disabling affliction was blindness and by most interpretative accounts he was blind when he wrote Sonnet XIX. Under God’s providence Milton “considers” his dark infirmity and writes (dictates?) in light thereof. In this darkness and in this light I will consider Milton’s Sonnet.
First to consider is that the poem used in The Norton Anthology of English Literature is an edited version from The Complete Poetry and Major Prose of Milton, edited by Merritt Y. Hughes. The poem that will be considered here is the 1673 text printed in The Riverside Milton, edited by Roy Flannagan. The decision of Riverside was not to intervene into the text, but to leave as it was written. Hughes’ changes insert punctuation, capitalization and spelling to update it to a modern audience. By modernizing the poem Hughes has effectively changed the meaning to what he as the editor had in mind. Milton wanted good readers, readers that read deeper than surface meanings and by changing the text the art of Milton’s words are compromised for the poem was designed to confuse the reader. Milton as a wordsmith is preparing the reader for a spiritual confusion that leads one to a question. Hughes’ editing reinforces the binary aspects of the poem that sets up one speaker in the octave and one speaker in the sestet, the problem in the octave then the solution in the sestet, if one likes. If one leaves out the editorial changes, the octave speaker and the sestet speaker become erased...
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... is required of all humankind. In Milton’s voice of patience the voice of complaint was quelled and regardless of time spent working or what affliction besets one, God is generous and graciously provides all through the unction of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost’s works derive from one’s faith and by this spirit operates within one to the glory, purpose and will of God. This will of a holy God who sends forth his messengers to Godspeed in giving good success to forward his purpose in the talent or gift that he distributes by the operation of the selfsame Spirit. Milton acknowledges obedience to this one God that he puts himself at disposal to, and in all this Milton “charged [not] God foolishly” (Job 1:22 K.J.V.). John Milton’s darkness will in one day stand in the eternal unspent light as he waits to consider the words “enter in good and faithful servant.”
Dorothy L. Sayers defines a Christian’s work as a “...natural exercise and function of man- the creature who is made in the image of his Creator” (Sayers 194). Sayers summarizes her view on work by saying, “...it is the duty of the Church to see to it that the work serves God, and that the worker serves the work” (Sayers 198). Sayers finds the duty of work to rest not only with the Christian, but also with the church.
The author is faced with the struggle of coming to terms with his homosexuality, which parallels the “internal” struggle of the form of the poem. The opening sentence of the poem, “In the hall of mirrors nobody speaks,” (Cole 1) sets the gloomy tone through the author’s use of imagery to create before the reader a silent dark hallway with mirrors. The other attribute that describes the bath, “An ember smolders before hollowed cheeks,” (2) ...
He uses his gift of words to create poetry to captivate people and bring them closer to the Lord. Milton wrote a poem about losing his eyesight and his dwindling ability to write poetry called, “When I Consider How My Life Is Spent.” There is a sense of religious uncertainty and depression that comes over the poem as it begins. In Milton’s poem he writes, “Ere half my days in this dark world and wide” (2). Milton lost his vision before he was mid-aged. His loss of vision is very devastating to him, because he feels like the only way he can humbly serve God is with his gift of writing powerful poetry. Milton does not see the light of God or living life as much anymore without his vision. He does not understand why God would let this happen to him when he lived for serving God with poetry. This causes his faith and hope to
The theme of the 'heroic' in John Milton's Paradise Lost is one that has often been the focus of critical debate, namely in the debate surrounding which character is the 'true' hero of the poem. Most critics of the subject have, however, noted that the difficultly in defining the 'hero' of Milton's work is mainly due to our “vague understanding of what constitutes heroism”1 and the fact that “the term itself is equivocal”2. The 'vague' terming of what heroism can be defined as it what draws critics to disagree with one another over the nature of heroism, as Charles Martindale points out that there are 'different models of heroic', many of which Milton employs in his epic poem. To incorporate these different 'models' of the heroic into his poem, Milton relates various elements of these models to his characters, allowing him to 'test' and 'revalidate' certain ideas and images of the heroic. For the most part, the models of the heroic fit broadly into two camps, which leads critics like John Steadman to identify the “conflict between secular and divine criteria of the heroic”3. Furthermore, within these two main models of heroism critics mostly attempt to define the characters of Satan, Adam and the Son of God, depending on their characteristics throughout the poem.
Milton’s theodicy is shown as a way to explain why if God is all loving, why he lets bad things happen to us. His basic concept is that because Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, many consequences came after. For example children dying of cancer. Many times in our lives things happen that we don’t think are good necessarily, but good things come from bad things. The choices we make have consequences and, but sometimes we are given trial for, what we believe, is no particular reason. This has been the question from the beginning. Milton decided to write this because it is on everyone 's mind, and he wanted to challenge Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. Milton was successful, in that, his book is well known, but The Iliad and The Odyssey are still the basis of human thought. Everyone in their lifetimes wants to accomplish something that will help them to be more successful than they are now. This was Milton’s thought process. Who wouldn’t want to write a book and have it be considered the basis of human thought and maybe even the book people associate with our nation? Most people would, this is why Milton tried and somewhat had a success. The
After reading Stephen Mitchell’s translation and introduction of the Book of Job, I found that as I read the actual poem from the Bible, that I came to understand more of what the writer was trying to get across to the reader. Having grown up in a Christian household, I have heard the story of Job multiple times, but this book made me take a deeper look into the story and as I read the translation it was as if I was reading this story for the very first time. What really interested me was the way that Job and his friends interacted and how it perfectly illustrated the irony of his situation. We as readers know that Job is only being punished because of this disagreement between God and Satan, but throughout the entire book Job’s friends are
This essay is anchored on the goal of looking closer and scrutinizing the said poem. It is divided into subheadings for the discussion of the analysis of each of the poem’s stanzas.
The great debate whether Satan is the hero of Milton’s Epic Poem, Paradise Lost, has been speculated for hundreds of years. Milton, a writer devoted to theology and the appraisal of God, may not have intended for his portrayal of Satan to be marked as heroic. Yet, this argument is valid and shares just how remarkable the study of literature can be. Milton wrote his tale of the fall of man in the 1674. His masterpiece is an example of how ideas of a society change with time. This is because it wasn’t until the 1800’s during the Romantic era, that people no longer saw the hero of literary works as perfect in every way. It started to become more popular to develop the flawed character similar to the ones written in the classics. A literary criterion that is based on a protagonist, who undergoes conflict on the outside and from within and is prevented by a specific flaw to accomplish their main goal, creates an epic Hero. In Paradise Lost, God does not face conflict because he is perfect and all-knowing, and Adam’s conflict is not presented from the very start, Satan’s is. Because Satan is the main character of the work and possesses qualities that would deem him heroic, such as his determination against tough odds, his ability to lead, and his human-like nature to error, he can be seen has the Hero of the famous poem.
Milton does not hold the belief of most other reformed Christians at the time. Calvinism was one of the puritan movements that spread all across the European continent. Calvinism had many followers but Milton did not buy into the doctrine of Calvin’s theology. In this excerpt, Milton’s God’s speech shows that all men have free will. The context is that God can see Sata...
The poem takes place in heaven, earthly paradise, and hell rather than on the traditional battlefield that we encounter in the Odyssey or the Iliad. Milton describes the earthly paradise as “The open field, and where the unpierced shade Embrowned the noontide bow’rs thus was this place, A happy rural seat of various view…” (Milton 132). Instead of the protagonist battling mythological beasts or fighting off suitors who desire to take what is rightfully his, the hero faces a battle from within himself. These drastically different physical settings allow Milton to focus on going into depth regarding the trials of the human soul and the battle that wages within one between good and evil. Rather than valor on the battlefield or other great physical triumphs being what defines us Milton reveals the value of Christianity that faith must be the center of one’s life. This is where the true epic battle takes place and its outcome is what truly defines
Holy Sonnet XV deals with the question of reciprocal love that runs throughout Donne’s religious poetry. The Sonnet is an address of the speaker’s mind to the speaker’s soul; it is a meditation on the Trinity and man’s relationship to God. The poem’s form and the multi-layered conflation throughout expound upon the nature of the Trinity. The theme of humility in reciprocal religious love or receiving and understanding God’s glory (as Donne understood it) runs throughout the poem. This allows the speaker’s soul to understand his own need for humility in order to love god fully. Donne uses the Sonnet form cunningly in this poem; the formal divisions of the Sonnet reflect the trinity, with three four-line sections, while the inner workings of the poem expound upon God’s love for mankind and the need for humility. The poem’s rhyme scheme is abba/abba/cddc/ee. This formally divides the poem into three four part sections that move from the spiritual to the physical downward through the Trinity, increasing tangibility with regard to the physical and allowing the speaker to achieve a closer relationship with God through Christ.
"Lycidas," a poem written by John Milton as a memorial to Edward King, a classmate at Cambridge, reflects Milton's reverence for nature, his admiration of Greek Mythology, and his deeply ingrained Christian belief system. In "Lycidas," Milton combines powerful images from nature and Greek Mythology along with Biblical references in order to ease the pain associated with the premature death of King. King drowns at sea in the prime of his life and Milton is left to make sense of this tragedy. Milton not only mourns the loss of a friend; he is also forced to face his own mortality. Milton questions the significance of writing poetry when he will inevitably die. Milton copes with the subject of death by insisting on the glory of a Christian life and the promise of rebirth into the joyous spiritual world of heaven after death.
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.
Milton’s poetic license entitles him to write as he pleases and therefore justifies his adaptation of an allegory into his epic. It is clearly apparent that Milton recognizes this privilege when...
Kerrigan, William, etal. The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton. Random House. New