Question

Read the passage.

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day labor, light denied?”

In Sonnet XIX by John Milton, at what point did the speaker’s eyesight fail?


when he lost his talent
during his youth
in late spring
at midlife

Answer 1

Answer: D) At midlife.

Step-by-step explanation: In the given passage from "Sonnet XIX" by John Milton, the speaker is in his late life, he thinks his life is ending and he is remembering how he has spend half of his life without being able to see ("...in this dark world and wide"), we know that he lost his vision at midlife because he expresses it with the phrase "Ere half my days" and then he lost his talent.

Answer 2

The answer is at midlife. The first clue is "half of my days". It expresses the poet's blindness at a time he feels he has more life to live. It creates the scenario of losing his talent to write. Since it was "half of his days" it also could not indicate the poet's youth. The poem also does not mention spring.