On His Blindness Summary

“On His Blindness,” a sonnet composed by John Milton, delves into the poet’s personal struggles and reflections on his own blindness. The poem expresses Milton’s emotional journey of grappling with his physical condition and his sense of duty towards God. Read More Class 12th English Summaries.

On His Blindness Summary

On His Blindness Introduction:

This poem deals with the loss of Milton’s eye-sight. He has become blind. He has hardly lived half of his life. The gift of writing poetry is lying unused with him. He is very anxious to serve God with it. He fears lest God should punish him for not making use of his gift. He becomes impatient. He asks himself if God expects work from him even after his blindness. But soon he realises that they also serve who only stand and wait. He submits himself to the will of God.

On His Blindness Summary in English

Milton lost his eye-sight at the age of forty three. He felt grief-stricken at this loss. The world appeared dark and desolate to him. God had given him the gift of writing poetry. He felt helpless. He could not make use of this gift. He was a religious-minded man. He wanted to use the gift of writing poetry in the service of God. He felt that his gift was useless.

He feared that God would scold him for wasting His gift. He thought of the servant who did not use a talent given to him by his master. On his return the master scolded the servant for not using the talent. In the same way, Milton feared that God would scold him for not making use of the talent of writing poetry.

So Milton starts grumbling. He foolishly asks himself the question if God wants him to work after taking away his eye-sight. His inner voice however comes to his help. It tells him not to grumble about the ways of God to man.

Summary On His Blindness

It assures him that God’s ways to man are absolutely just. God does not want any compensation for the talents that He gives to human beings. He does not want man to work to please Him. Those who accept God’s will happily are His best servants. God has given a light responsibility to each one of us. We must accept that responsibility without grumbling.
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