Milton, John : Sonnet 16 (On His Blindness )

Literature Annotations

	On-Line Text and Audio
Genre	Sonnet
Keywords	Blindness, Disability, Human Worth, Patient Experience, Prayer as Medicine, Religion
Summary	In this sonnet, the speaker meditates on the fact that he has become blind (Milton himself was blind when he wrote this). He expresses his frustration at being prevented by his disability from serving God as well as he desires to. He is answered by "Patience," who tells him that God has many who hurry to do his bidding, and does not really need man’s work. Rather, what is valued is the ability to bear God’s "mild yoke," to tolerate whatever God asks faithfully and without complaint. As the famous last line sums it up, "They also serve who only stand and wait."
Commentary	This poem presents a carefully reasoned argument, on the basis of Christian faith, for the acceptance of physical impairment. The speaker learns that, rather than being an obstacle to his fulfillment of God’s work for him, his blindness is a part of that work, and that his achievement lies in living patiently with it. (Milton himself went on to write his twelve-book epic poem, "Paradise Lost," after becoming blind.)
Source	John Milton: Complete Shorter Poems
Publisher	Longman
Edition	1971
Editors	John Carey
Place Published	London
Miscellaneous	Written c.1652
Annotated by	Belling, Catherine
Date of Entry	07/02/97
Last Revised	09/08/06