About the Poetry of John Milton

Understanding and Enjoying the Poetry of John Milton Though he is a difficult poet to
understand, John Milton can be enjoyable once he is understood. After multiple readings of his
sonnets, the meanings of each become much clearer. If one cannot understand Milton, one cannot
enjoy him. There is a definite connection between understanding Milton and enjoying him. After
reading a few of his sonnets a couple of times, I was able to better appreciate their meaning.

About the sonnet

HOW SOON HATH TIME is a Petrarchan sonnet written by John Milton the famous
English poet. It is a sonnet written on the 9th of December 1632.Typical of the petrarchan sonnet,
there is a tonal change as well as a change in the mood and emotions of the poet. The poem has
an autobiographical touch. In the Octave, the poet laments the passage of 24 years of his life,
especially the 24rd year. The sonnet begins with a tone of frustration and desperation. He suffers
from the complex growing youngsters have. Time is pictured as a subtle thief of youth which has
wings and it has carried away the 24 years of his life. His days are hurrying away in a rush. He is
growing by age, but the spring of his life has seen no bud nor blossom. He fears that he has not
achieved anything in his life despite crossing 24 years. In the second half of the octave, he states
that though he has attained manhood, he does not look his age. He has that physical immaturity
which has made him look very young and effeminate. He despairs of not only being
unmasculine, but also a failure in life as a poet and also as a respectable man of high standing.
Physical immaturity seems to go hand in hand with mental, psychological and intellectual
immaturity. Though he is a man now, he does not have the mature looks nor does he find an
inward ripeness. He feels sad that some people are so well endowed at the proper time.

Description the sonnet

The word ENDOWED suddenly makes the poet realize the ‘one who endowes’- God.
Eventually the mood changes. There is an introspection and acceptance. He comes to terms with
the reality. He feels that all he needs is time and necessarily, along with it, the blessings of God.
He would, one day, sooner or later,in a large amount or small, bless him. It is destiny, he realizes.
He would indeed be blessed by God and his fortunes may change for the better. He decides to
‘stand and wait’ in anticipation of the grace of God. He feels that right now, it is the destiny
allotted by God and accordingly, he has to carry out his part of the duty and wait in patience. He
dreams of a day when God blesses him in His own strictest measure. He would bless him with a
sense of creativity so that he would bloom to be a better poet. He realizes that human beings are
allotted to play their roles, to perform God’s will. If he waits with patience, God’s grace would
be on him eternally. Sometimes less, sometimes more, it may vary, but the Almighty, the Power,
would always remain up above, blessing him. So all he needs is Time, Patience and the will of
Heaven.
 In the last line, the poet refers to God as a Taskmaster. A taskmaster’s job is to extract
work and God will make him strive hard so that one day he would be a greater poet; because that
is what, he feels ,God intends him to be. If not today, perhaps someday, he will achieve what he
dreamed of, the success he strived for and the glory he anticipated. He would certainly succeed
as what he aspired to be. The sonnet ends with a tone of hope and consolation.

Milton presents the same theme in ON HIS BLINDNESS. A parallel reference can be
made of the lines from Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT where he speaks that we are allotted to
play our roles; to perform God’s will. – “All the world’s a stage and all men and women mere
players.

Summary

The first couplet tells us that the young man has just celebrated his 24th birthday. The
exclamation point shows his excitement with growing older. He calls the present his "wasting
days" in the third line that "fly on with full career". This means that although the present might
be wasteful, there is an ultimate goal that is to be reached in the future, called adulthood. In line
four, Milton calls the young man's slow physical maturation his "late spring". He points out that
he has not grown to be a man because "no bud or blossom show'th". "Bud", in my opinion, refers
to facial hair and "blossom" to blossoming pecks or muscles. Milton also compares human
maturation to the maturation of a fruit when the young man speaks of his "inward ripeness". He
is ripe (mature) on the inside but has not shown to be through appearance. Time is spoken of in
lines 11 and 12 as if it is inevitable. Most young adults feel as if they are invincible and do not
realize their own mortality; they just want to grow up and obtain the experiences and
consequently the knowledge that age and maturation bestow. This young man is beyond his years
because he realizes that he can wish away time or wish to keep time, but in the end it doesn't
really matter because God calls all the shots and time is unobtainable and inevitable.