In bidding farewell to the Enlightenment Period, and this moment in time being the beginning of a new year and a new decade, we would do well to pause at John Milton. One, because he was a preeminent poet of the Enlightenment period and a man who was best at what he was gifted to do. Two, because he overcame a physical challenge to become a great achiever.
As we proceed in this New Year, 2020, we must make up our minds to face our challenges head on and overcome them.
John Milton (1608-1674) found himself gradually growing blind, and by the age of 43 he had become totally blind. At the time, he and others thought it was because Milton was involved in too much reading and writing. However, today we know that it was untreated Glaucoma that took his sight.
His most famous work, Paradise Lost, was written after he went blind, as well as other famous works. As he was growing blind, he wrote one of his many famous sonnets titled “When I Consider How my Light Is Spent”. In this sonnet, Milton tries to understand his new condition using figurative language to express his frustration, fear and finally, his acceptance of the condition. And, we are blessed for it!
Translated from the French, the Enlightenment Period is referred to as the Century of the Enlightened. John Milton was one of the most enlightened – a man who spoke ten languages and was politically, socially and spiritually (he was a Puritan) enlightened although physically blind later in life.
John Locke (1632-1704) is regarded as the most influential of the Enlightenment period, especially in the area of political philosophy. His writings influenced such greats as Voltaire and Rousseau and mostly the American revolutionaries.
Voltaire and Rousseau were torchbearers of the Enlightenment in Literature and Philosophy, but Milton was regarded as the best English author. He too preached the doctrine of freedom (freedom of choice) which Locke propounded.
John Milton was a civil servant in the Council of State of the Commonwealth of England, and later under Oliver Cromwell. He was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Milton had an impressive CV. He was a polemist as well as a polyglot who could read, write and translate in ten languages: Italian, Greek, Latin, French, Dutch, Spanish, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and of course English.
In 1644, he published a pamphlet titled Areopagitica written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship, and for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing (It was Milton’s published speech/treatise addressed to the English Parliament: a prose polemic). It is history’s most influential and impassioned defences of a right to freedom of speech/expression and freedom of the press.
His strong desire for freedom is reflected in his writings. He coined new words from Latin into English and employed non rhymed verse outside of the theatre or translations.
Milton is regarded as the most preeminent writer in the English language. William Hayley in his 1796 biography of him called him the greatest English author.
Great poets like William Wordsworth, Thomas Hardy and William Blake revered him.
Find below his poem that has been in major conversations in enlightened gatherings since the 17th century. It has also been quoted regularly, although sometimes out of context, especially the last line which reads: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
This line has been used as motto by some groups and people, for example, the Navy Wives of America whose motto is “They Also Serve, Who Stay and Wait” and the Dickin Medal for service to animals whose motto reads: “We Also Serve.”
Its meaning is very touching. Milton alludes to goings on in heaven where God has numerous angels who are busy working for Him. But, some stand and wait for orders. Those who wait are also serving.
This poem reveals the anxieties of the poet when he began to go blind. He worries that his talent of writing or translation (a writer says of his skill of translating texts from foreign languages would soon be buried or lie dormant when he eventually loses his sight) will soon lie unused when he goes blind and the poet persona worries that his creator might chide him for a fault not his in burying his talent.
However, Milton realizes that God has numerous angels who do His biddings and some angels who do nothing but wait to be called to serve. So, maybe he will just wait to be called to serve as he couldn’t do anything anymore by himself. Those angels who wait also serve, maybe because they are available and ready to serve, but have not been assigned.
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
By John Milton, a sonnet
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.”
This is the most famous sonnet of John Milton. It is in Petrarchan form with the rhyme scheme of abbaabbacdecde.
Milton alludes to the biblical Parable of Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 when he says “that one talent which is death to hide.”
Some scholars have written that Milton mourns his inability to use his poetic talent when blindness struck him, but Dayton Haskin, foremost literature scholar and university don writes that on the contrary that Milton is referring to his inability to translate texts from foreign languages which was his task in the Commonwealth government. Prof. Dayton Haskin (Department of English, Boston University) maintains that the poet’s blindness was a secondary theme.
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;
The above lines allude to the Biblical Parable of Talent where the one who received one talent hid it instead of trading with it to make more. Milton laments that his own talent “lodged with (him) useless, though (his) soul more bent to serve therewith (his maker), and present his true account lest his maker chides him when he returns.
This poem appeared in Milton’s book of Trinity Manuscript believed to contain materials written between 1631 and 1659. The poem “When I consider how my light is spent” is believed to have been written around 1655 when the poet had gone completely blind.
Poems in the above manuscripts are written in another’s handwriting not Milton’s but a scribe’s. The same scribe wrote out many other sonnets belonging to Milton after he’s gone blind.
Dear Reader, rise up in 2020 and confront your confrontations because we’re gifted to overcome.
Happy New Year!