On His Blindness – John Milton

On His Blindness (Sonnet XIX) is a petrarchan sonnet to the highest degree how Milton keep downs to terms with his loss of sight. The sonnet talks about how he looks for succor with his sightlessness in religion, Milton was a solemn Puritan. This absolutely influenced Miltons thinking, his family were often tortuous in many political and sacred controversies. A lot of Miltons constitution was influenced by the Bible and Greek writers much(prenominal) as Homer. Milton follows the typical Petrarchan sonnet arrive at of fourteen lines all in hotshot stanza.This stanza is internally split into an octet (eight lines) this commonly asks a question, here it is Milton complains about his blindness and how he thinks its unfair for it to overstep to him. The sestet (six lines) answers the question asked in the octet, here Milton talks about how patience is a virtue. In the sestet there is a quote from the Parable of Talents, this emphasises Miltons strong religious touch sen sations. It has an Iambic pentameter, quint in a bad way(p) then unstressed syllables.Milton uses the contrast of trip out and dark to understand his affliction My smartness is spent this implies that his date with sight had set out out. Alliteration is used dark origination and wide this emphasises Miltons peel to come to terms with his blindness. This contrast helps build an fellow feeling of his blindness. There is a strong cogitate to the Parable of Talents Milton uses the Parable to guide him and give him encouragement to come to terms with his blindness. The all-encompassing metaphor on lines three to five which implies that being blind is something that Milton is ashamed of and doesnt wishing others to know.Milton writes in the past extend which implies that hes moved on from his sleep withs and he has comes to terms with his blindness. The use of pre-modifiers fondly ask to emphasis his problem. Compound sentences show how deep and complex his argument about his blindness is. Enjambment shows that his thoughts on his issue are continuous and that he doesnt stop thinking about it. moreover caesuras are used which implies that he swaps from one thought to another quickly. Miltons rime pattern of ABBAABBACDECDE follows the typical Petrarchan sonnet form.The earreach for this poem would typically have been a society which was God-fearing. At this time the church and religion was very important and everyone had to attend church services. Therefore Miltons audience was universal as everyone would attempt approval from God as the more or less people had a strong belief in heaven and hell and would want God to look down on them positively to send them to heaven. In shutdown Milton used imagery such as metaphors and connotations to help us understand what hes going through and the struggle hes facing plan of attack to terms with his blindness.