On His Having Arrived At The Age Of Twenty Three – John Milton
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on, his wing, my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom show’th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu’th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Towards which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Taskmaster’s eye.
The Sonnet “On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-Three” was printed twice during Milton’s lifetime. It was likely written in 1632 at a crucial time in Milton’s life, just after his graduation from Cambridge. Milton here acknowledges that he may not seem as mature as some of his contemporaries but express his desire to use his talents well and his trust in God’s will for his over time. Milton writes a range of political sonnets, occasional sonnets, elegiac sonnets, and sonnets of personal meditation. This particular poem of our study comes under meditative sonnets.
Milton expresses his regret in the poem for having spent already twenty-three years without achieving anything worthy though he looked youthful, he has arrived at manhood. But he still does not have inward maturity. He consoles himself with faith in God that he would bless him with needed maturity. He believed that the task for which he is determined may be important or unimportant, but in course of time God would certainly bless him with necessary maturity. So he should not worry about it and think that when time comes, he should use his talent, as if he were a slave always watched over by God, his master. Thus the poem expresses the poet’s sense of mission in Life.
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poem ed by mastanappa puletipalli
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