Sunday, April 21, 2019

What is the "murmur" that patience prevents Milton from making in the poem "On His Blindness"?

The "murmur" is one which Milton, as the speaker, never actually voices—he describes it as the "true account" (which he often feels compelled to present to God) of how he feels, now that his talents have been suppressed by his physical infirmity: his blindness. The choice of the word "murmur" is indicative: a "murmur" suggests something spoken low, as if one is ashamed to say it. The speaker is ashamed that he is not doing as much as he used to in order to serve and please his God; he is afraid that God will come to him and ask him why he is so idle, no longer using his talents to praise his Creator.
In this poem, however, the speaker attempts to console himself and quell the urge to voice such feelings. Instead, he says, God is also served by those who, like the speaker, "stand and wait." It is not always necessary for everybody to be serving God in the same way, as if they were laborers and God their foreman.


In the poem "On His Blindness," "that mumur" refers to Milton's complaint that he cannot serve God because he is blind and his "light is spent," meaning that his sight is used up. His talent is useless because he can no longer see, and he wonders if God still wants him to work, since he can not see. He still is intent on serving God through his talents. Patience stops his murmur, or his complaint that he can no longer work; in other words, if he considers the question patiently, he realizes that God does not require people to work. God only requires that people serve God by waiting or being patient. This is the response to Milton's question--he does not need to serve God by working, but rather by being patient and serving God. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Why is the fact that the Americans are helping the Russians important?

In the late author Tom Clancy’s first novel, The Hunt for Red October, the assistance rendered to the Russians by the United States is impor...