On His Blindness Questions with Answers

On His Blindness Questions with Answers 

The questions and answers of the poem On His Blindness are very important in the academic sector. Students read this type of article to get information on this poem and take their eczema preparation. Thinking that, we bring the questions and answer section on this poem. Read the article properly.

On His Blindness Brief Questions with Answers 

1. What does the poet consider or ponder deeply over? 

Ans. The poet considers or ponders deeply over how his light is spent, or how he became blind before even the half of his lifetime. 

2 What is death to hide? 

Ans. That one talent of his. That is, his poetic gift is death to hide. 

3. What is lodged with him useless? Ans. His poetic gift is lodged with him useless. 4, What is his soul more bent to do? 

Ans. His soul is more bent to serve his Maker (God) with his talent, and present his true account. 

5. What does the poet fear in case he does not serve God? 

Ans. He fears that God will chide him in case he does not serve Him with his talent. 

6. What does he fondly ask himself? 

Ans. He fondly asks himself if God exacts day labour from one who has been denied light or has become blind. 

7. What prevents the murmur of his question if God demands labour from a blind man. 

Ans. His own spirit of patience prevents his murmur of the question if God demands day labour from a blind man. 

8. What does his spirit of patience reply? 

Ans. His spirit of patience replies that God does not demand day-tabour from a blind man, and does not need man’s work or His own gifts. 

9. Who serves God best? 

Ans. He who bears His mild yoke serves Him best. 

10. Whose state is kingly? 

Ans. God’s state is kingly, and thousands of angels rum over land and see in order to carry out His command. 

11. What conflict arises in the mind of the poet: 

Ans. The conflict that arises in his mind is between his sense of duty to God which requires him to serve Him, and his inability to serve God with his blindness. 

12. How does the poet resolve his conflict? 

Ans. He resolves his conflict in mind by realising that those who only stand and wait also serve God.

On His Blindness Short Questions and  Answers

1. Why does Milton ask himself the question, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied”? (Does God exact/ demand daylabour from a man who has lost his eyesight?) 

Ans. When Milton became blind even before the middle of his life (“ere half my days”), he pondered deeply over the matter. As a result of his being blind his “one talent”, his poetic gift, became useless with him, because with his eye-sight lost, he could not do any work of writing. “In this dark world and wide”, he felt absolutely helpless, especially with regard to his use of his poetic gift. 

But he felt that as a servant of God, he was not doing his duty towards Him by making use of his poetic talent, and as such he was not giving any account of his performance of duty. Under such a condition he became afraid that his Maker, God, might be dissatisfied with him, and might chide him for his non-performance of duty towards Him. 

This immediately gave a shaking to his sense of justice, which prompted him to ask himself the question “Doth God exact day labour, light denied?” The implication of the question is that God is absolutely just, and for Him such a question is impossible, since demanding service from a blind man is not consistent with a sense of justice. 

2. What answer does the poet’s spirit of patience give to the question, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied”? 

Ans. When Milton became blind, he felt that his poetic talent was left useless with him in this dark and wide world. He could not do any work or writing with his eye-sight lost. Now, he felt that as a servant of God he should serve God with his poetic talent. But since he was not able to make use of his talent by writing, he became afraid that God might demand day-labour or service towards Him from a blind man. 

This question in its turn, stirred his spirit of patience which prompted the answer that God does not need man’s work, or even His own gifts. God’s state is kingly. There are thousands of His angels who run over land and sea unwearied all the time in order to carry out His order. In that case, it is absolutely unnecessary for Him to demand any service from a blind man. Rather it is the best of service on the part of an incapable man to bear the mild burden that God imposes on him. So, the poet’s spirit of patience prompts him to conclude, “They also serve who only stand and wait.” 

3. Explain the following, with reference to the context: Doth God exact day-labour, light denied, I fondly ask.” 

Ans. The lines occur in Milton’s sonnet On His Blindness. This is the question which Milton asked himself when he became blind and feared God’s displeasure for not serving God with his poetic power. 

Milton became blind even before the middle of his life as he expresses this fact with “Ere half my days”. He believed that God had given him poetic power to serve Him with. But since he became blind he could not perform that duty toward God. So he was suffering from compunction for not having performed his duty to God. 

He was afraid that God might be angry with him, and might chide him At this point of his deep pondering over his condition, his sense of justice asserted itself and prompted him to ask himself the question if God demands work from a man who has become blind. This question is a leading question which leads to the answer that God does not demand work from a blind man. This condition also indirectly emphasizes the justice of God — God is always Just, and does never do any injustice to man. 

4. With reference to the context, explain the following: They also serve who only stand and wait. 

Ans. This line occurs at the end of the poem ``On His Blindness'' by John Milton, a great poet of 17 century England. This is the resolution of the conflict in the mind of the poet when he became blind, and could not serve God due to his blindness. When Milton became blind, “ere half my days”, he pondered deeply over the condition. 

He believed that the poetic gift that he possessed was given by God to serve Him, but he could not serve Him with that gift in his blind condition. So he became afraid that God might chide him for his non-performance of duty to Him. But his spirit of justice - within his mind prompted the question if God exacts work from a blind man. But almost immediately his spirit of patience within himself asserted itself, and gave the answer to the question. 

The answer was that God does not need the work of any man or His own gifts to man. His state is kingly. Thousands of His angels post over land and ocean to serve him every moment. In case of a disabled man, like a blind man, it is only that he should bear His mild yoke without any protest. And he can serve God in that state of nonperformance of his duty, only by the exercise of his patience. So the poet resolves his conflict by concluding that those who stand and wait serve Him best. 

5. Give a brief account of sonnet. Or, What is a sonnet? Describe its characteristics. . 

Ans. The term “Sonnet” derives from the Italian “Sonetto” which means a little sound. The sonnet originated in thirteenth century Italy, was developed by the Italian poet Petrarch, and was brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt. It was greatly modified by the Earl of Surrey, and Shakespeare, and to a lesser extent, by poets since Shakespeare. 

The subject matter of sonnet was primarily a doting lover’s hopes and pains. Donne shifted from the secular love to a variety of religious themes. Milton expanded the range to other matters of serious contemplation. 

An ordinary sonnet consists of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameters with considerable variations in rhyme scheme. On the basis of variations in the stanza form and rhyme scheme, there can be three types of sonnet: (a) the Petrarchan, which comprises an octave rhyming abbaabba and a sestet rhyming cdecde or cdcdcd; (b) the Shakespearean or the English with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, cdcd, efef, gg; (c) the Spenserian with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab,bcbc,cdcd,ee. 

In the Italian form the octave develops one thought; there is then a turn, and the sestet grows out of the octave, varies it and completes it. In the other two forms a different idea is expressed; each grows out of the one preceding it; and the argument, theme, and dialect are concluded in the ending couplet. 

6. Discuss Milton’s sonnet, and characterize it as an Italian type. 

Ans. John Milton was a poet of the 17" century, so he had already had before him the models of three types of sonnet: the Italian, the Shakespearean, and the Spenserian. He chose the Italian model for his sonnets. “On His Blindness” is a type of sonnet which conforms to the Italian model, though not in detail. 

On His Blindness is a sonnet of 14 iambic pentameter lines, and the rhyme scheme is abba abba of the octave and cdecde of the sestet. But he has not maintained the clear-cut division between the octave and the sestet so far as the physical structure of the sonnet is concerned. The eight line of the octave does not end with a full stop, but runs on into the sestet. 

I fondly ask; but patience to prevent That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need Either man’s work or His own gifts; In the quoted lines, “I fondly ask” is the beginning of the eighth line (last line) of the octave, and “That murmur” is the beginning of the first line of the sestet. The octave does not stop with “prevent”, but runs on into the sestet. 

The theme of the sonnet is the poet’s blindness, and his thoughts centre round it. In the octave the theme is introduced, and a question answered in the sestet, and thus the conflict in the poet’s mind is resolved. Thus, the sonnet is seen to have most of the characteristics of Italian sonnet. 

Conclusion

That was all about the questions and answers of the poem On His Blindness. This is a serious religious poem with an autobiographical touch of the poet John Milton. This article will help you to know deeply about this poem. But if you want to know more about this poem, you may read the critical appreciation of On His Blindness.