OnHisBlindness

1、on his blindness by john milton (1608-1674) background john miltons eyesight began to fail in 1651. by 1652, he was totally blind .it is because he was too tired when he wrote a defense of the english people . oddly, he wrote his greatest works, paradise lost and paradise regained after he became bl

2、ind. many scholars rank milton as second only to shakespeare in poetic ability. type of work and year written “on his blindness” is a petrarchan sonnet, a lyric poem with fourteen lines. this type of sonnet, popularized by the italian priest petrarch (1304-1374), has a rhyme scheme of abba, abba, cd

3、e, and cde. john milton wrote the poem in 1655. content a when i consider how my light is spent1 b ere half my days2 in this dark world and wide b and that one talent3 which is death to hide a lodged with me useless,4 though my soul more bent a to serve therewith5 my maker, and present b my true acc

4、ount,6 lest he returning chide; b doth god exact7 day labor, light denied? a i fondly8 ask. but patience,9 to prevent content c that murmur, soon replies,. god doth not need d either mans work or his own gifts.10 who best e bear his mild yoke,11 they serve him best. his state c is kingly; thousands

5、at his bidding speed,. d and post12 oer land and ocean without rest; e they also serve who only stand and wait.13 哀失明哀失明 想到了在这茫茫黑暗的世界里，还未到半生这两眼就已失明，想到了我这个泰伦特，要是埋起来，会招致死亡，却放在我手里无用，虽然我一心想用它服务造物主，免得报账时，得不到他的宽容；想到这里，我就愚蠢地自问，神不给我光明，还要我做日工?哀失明哀失明 但忍耐看我在抱怨，立刻止住我：神并不要你工作，或还他礼物。谁最能服从他，谁就是忠于职守，他君临万方，只要他一声吩咐，万

6、千个天使就赶忙在海陆奔驰，但侍立左右的，也还是为他服务。(殷宝书 译) （以上注释出自胡家峦编著的英国名诗详注）source: http:/ all the lines in the poem are in iambic pentameter. in this metric pattern, a line has five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, for a total of ten syllables. the first two lines of the poem illustrate this pattern: 1.2. 3

7、.4.5 when i | con sid | er how.| my life | is spent 1.2. 3.4.4 ere half | my days | in this | dark world.| and wideexplanation 1.light is spent: this clause presents a double meaning: (a) how i spend my days, (b) how it is that my sight is used up. 2.ere half my days: before half my life is over. mi

8、lton was completely blind by 1652, the year he turned 44. 3.talent: see line 3: key to the meaning. 4.useless: unused. 5.therewith: by that means, by that talent; with it 6.account: record of accomplishment; worth explanation 7.exact: demand, require 8.fondly: foolishly, unwisely 9.patience: milton

9、personifies patience, capitalizing it and having it speak. 10.god . . . gifts: god is sufficient to himself. he requires nothing outside of himself to exist and be happy. 11. yoke: burden, workload. 12. post: travel. . lines 3-6: key to the meaning lines 3 to 6 of the poem allude to the “parable of

10、the talents” in chapter 25 of the gospel of matthew, verses 14 to 30. 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. he distributes the money in talents, a unit of weight used in ancient times to e

11、stablish the value of gold, silver, or any other medium used as money. lines 3-6: key to the meaning in the parable of the talents, the employer gives the first servant five talents of silver, the second servant two talents, and the third servant one talent. after the employer returns from the trip

12、and asks for an accounting, the first servant reports that he doubled his talents to ten and the second that he doubled his to four. both men receive promotions. the third servant then reports that he still has only one talent, for he did nothing to increase its value. instead, he buried it. the emp

13、loyer denounces him for his laziness, gives his talent to the man with ten, and casts him outside into the darkness. theme god judges humans on whether they labor for him to the best of their ability. for example, if one carpenter can make only two chairs a day and another carpenter can make five, t

14、hey both serve god equally well if the first carpenter makes his two chairs and the second makes his five. if one carpenter becomes severely disabled and cannot make even a single chair, he remains worthy in the sight of god. for, as milton says in the last line of the poem, they also serve who only

15、 stand and wait. conclusion the first eight lines of this poem describe the poets meditation 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 . after experienced a painful reflection and inner struggle , the more open-minded, faith more firmly. from this poem, there will be m