When I consider how my light is spent Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is ***** to hide

Question

Read the following lines and answer the questions that follow.

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is ***** to hide

Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide,

“Doth *** exact day-labour, light denied?” I fondly ask.

(i) When did Milton become *****?

(ii) What does the poet mean by ‘light’?

(iii) How does the speaker describe the world?

(iv) Why does he call the world dark?

(v) Which is that ‘one talent which is ***** to hide’?

(vi) How has the speaker’* blindness affected his soul?

(vii) What does the speaker ask himself?

(viii) What does the word fondly’ mean?

Answer 1

(i) Milton became ***** before half his life in the world was over.

(ii) By ‘light’ the poet means his eyesight.

(iii) The speaker describes the world as wide and dark.

(iv) He calls the world dark because he has lost his sight.

(v) The talent is the ***-given gift of writing poetry.

(vi) The speaker’* blindness has made his soul more eager to serve his Maker.

(vii) The speaker asks himself if He still expects labour (work) from him since he is *****.

(viii) The word ‘fondly’ means ‘foolishly’.