On His Blindness is a sonnet by John Milton.
The poem is about the poet himself. He became blind at an early age, which he calls as half of his life. Due to blindness, the whole world is dark and gloomy. The gift of being a creative writer and poet, which has been accorded to him by the God is now useless for him. Though the gift or skill given to him by the God would remain with him till death, but he will not be able to use it.
As God has taken away his eye sight, he has become more submissive and wants to serve God with his poetic power. He was greatly inclined to write poetry in praise of God and present to him a true account of his writings. He wants to do this so that God may not snub him after his death.
He mildly wants to ask God that how can be required to do work equal to any normal person in spite of his total blindness. In the answer to this heart felt feeling of the poet, his conscience comes to his rescue to tell that he must keep patience as God does not want anything from man. God’s Kingdom is very rich and splendid. Thousands of angels are every time ready to act on God’s command. They carry out God’s wishes on land and sea without rest. The mortals on Earth cannot serve God at this speed, so they must wait in silence for his mercy. Milton says that those who are not able to serve God should simple stand in service of God and wait for their chance to receive mercy of God.