Sometimes I think that poets are the only truly honest people in this world. When I Consider How My Light is Spent is a poem by John Milton and it can be quickly summed up as a poem about worrying whether or not Milton spent his life fulfilling his purpose-something most of us wonder about but rarely admit our fears about. He is completely open with his struggle with being blind and not understanding how he is supposed to find purpose if he can’t see. John Milton was born on December 9, 1608 in London, England. He was raised in a middle-class family, which provided him with enough money to attend a formal school. Milton spent his time in college studying a variety of things, including religion, science, and philosophy, which are all evident in his poems. He grew up planning to be a clergy as an adult, but abandoned this career to study poetry for six years in Buckinghamshire. During these six years, he wrote: "On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity," "On Shakespeare,"
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He was heavily involved with the English Civil War and sided with Puritan reformation in the church and creating a free commonwealth instead of the current monarchy; Milton was called the “voice of the English Revolution.”
Milton wrote his poem, “When I Consider How My Light is Spent,” about what it would be like trying to serve God without his sight. Milton wrote this sonnet using a Petrarchan rhyming scheme in iambic pentameter. 14 lines, the common way of the time period. It was written in 1655; Milton had begun to lose his sight and would be completely blind for the last 20 years of his life. This is a religious poem, as were most of Milton’s poems. Milton viewed himself as the “right kind” of Christian, as he thought that organized churches ruined what faith was supposed to be like. He was devoted to serving
He was heavily involved with the English Civil War and sided with Puritan reformation in the church and creating a free commonwealth instead of the current monarchy; Milton was called the “voice of the English Revolution.”
Milton wrote his poem, “When I Consider How My Light is Spent,” about what it would be like trying to serve God without his sight. Milton wrote this sonnet using a Petrarchan rhyming scheme in iambic pentameter. 14 lines, the common way of the time period. It was written in 1655; Milton had begun to lose his sight and would be completely blind for the last 20 years of his life. This is a religious poem, as were most of Milton’s poems. Milton viewed himself as the “right kind” of Christian, as he thought that organized churches ruined what faith was supposed to be like. He was devoted to serving