Question

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

In these lines of verse from Sonnet XIX by John Milton, how does the speaker’s way of identifying this point in his life emphasize the despair he feels?

He has been blind for half of his life and feels his life is meaningless.

He fears the remaining portion of his life will be useless.

He spends half of his time in the dark and feels useless.

He is upset that he has accomplished so little in his lifetime.

Answer 1

The answer to this question is A He has been blind for half of his life and feels his life is meaningless.

Answer 2

In this poem John Milton uses “the light” as a metaphor for the vision, Milton went completely blind at the age of 42 and he consider that his light was “spent” before the half of his life and what is left, a world without light become it a “dark world and wide”, the answer is “He fears the remaining portion of his life will be useless.”