1. By: John Milton Marielle Castorena, Crystal Garcia, Genesis Figueroa, Jennifer Martinez, Viri Martinez

2. Vocabulary  Ere: before  Lodged: remain, beat down, entertain  Chide: scold, express disapproval of  Fondly: foolish  Murmur: low continuous sound  Doth: archaic 3 rd person singular present of do  Bidding: a command  Yoke: a wooden cross piece that is fasten over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull

4. S tructure, meter, and rhyme  This poem is a 14 line Italian sonnet  It has an octave and a sestet  The meter is iambic pentameter  The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDECDE  This poem has enjambment in lines 1,3,4,5,8,9,10,11  Milton is a metaphysical poet

5. Analysis of poem  The poem starts off with the speaker being frustrated and angry with God. He feels he has the skills and intelligence to great things in the world, but his light is ending soon. This means he is going blind. So he talks about the things he won’t be able to accomplish anymore.  He feels he is useless and asks his Maker (God), “Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?” He is basically saying how can anyone expect him to do anything blind.  Fortunately there is an allegorical figure named Patience who gives the speaker pep talk. He then realizes how he is useful to God and he can do get things.

6. Tone  The tone of this poem starts of as confused and frustrated, but then shifts to calm and patient.  In the beginning of the poem the speaker uses words like useless and hide as he expresses his frustration with God.  At the end of the poem he starts to use words like kingly and wait after Patience replies to his question.  Examples of word choice:  Light, dark, talent, death, lodged, useless, more, true, fondly, patience, kingly, bidding

7. About John Miller  John Milton was born on December 9,1608 in London as a 2 nd child of John and Sara Jeffrey.  Milton was admitted to Christ’s college cambridge and he was a hard working student, but was suspended after a dispute with his tutor.  In Spring of 1642 Milton married Mary Powell who was 17 and he was 34, but they had a bad relationship and she left to visit her family but never came back. He remarried in 1663 to another woman named Elizabeth Minshull.  On His blindness talks about how John Milton was going blind.  In 1652 was a bad year for Milton, in February Milton lost his eye sight. In May 1652 Mary gave birth to a daughter Deborah and she died. Milton died November 8,1674.

9. Quiz 1. What is the structure of this poem? 2. What kind of poet is John Milton? 3. What is the tone of this poem? 4. What year did was Milton born and what year did he die? 5. What does the title of the poem mean? 6. What does the “Maker” represent? 7. Was John Milton talking about a monotheistic god or polytheistic god? 8. What is the allegorical figure that gives the speaker a pep talk? 9. What year did John Milton start to lose his eyesight? 10. What is the meter to this poem?