KPSC HSA English - Summary and Model Objective Questions from "On His Blindness" by John Milton

Summary of "On His Blindness"

John Milton (1608-1674) was a distinguished English poet and polemicist. He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. His life and works were deeply connected to the religious and political changes of the 17th century. Milton is most famous for his epic poem Paradise Lost. His writings frequently explored themes of free will, divine justice, and humanity's role. "On His Blindness" is a profound sonnet reflecting on his personal struggle. It addresses the gradual loss of his eyesight, a significant challenge he faced in his later years.

The poem begins with the speaker, Milton himself, contemplating his approaching blindness. He refers to this as his "light... spent." He laments that his vision was lost "Ere half my days in this dark world and wide." This suggests his blindness arrived too soon. It left him in a world that now felt vast and without light. This physical darkness adds to a spiritual anxiety. He feels his "one talent"—his ability to write and serve God—is now "Lodg'd with me useless."

Milton, a deeply religious Puritan, wonders how he can continue to serve his "Maker." He questions how he can present a "true account" of his life and gifts. He fears God might rebuke him for not using his abilities. This internal conflict reveals his strong desire to fulfill his divine purpose. This desire persists even as his physical capabilities diminish. His fundamental question is "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" He asks if God expects active service when eyesight, the means to perform it, has been taken away.

However, this moment of doubt is quickly interrupted. "Patience" appears as an allegorical figure. She acts as a voice of divine wisdom. Patience gently corrects his murmuring thoughts. She provides a profound theological insight. She explains that God does not "need Either man's work or his own gifts." This statement changes Milton's viewpoint. It highlights God's self-sufficiency and supreme power.

Patience continues by clarifying the nature of true service to God. It is not necessarily about vigorous action or grand achievements. Instead, "who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best." This implies that enduring life's burdens and accepting God's will with grace is a profound act of devotion. The focus shifts from external productivity to internal spiritual strength and submission.

The sonnet concludes with a powerful and comforting realization. God's "state Is kingly." Thousands "at his bidding speed / And post o'er land and ocean without rest." This imagery conveys the endless and constant activity of God's countless servants. They are always ready to carry out His commands. The poem's memorable final line offers great solace. "They also serve who only stand and wait" affirms that patient endurance, faith, and acceptance of one's condition are equally valuable forms of service in God's eyes.

Objective Multiple-Choice Questions

1. John Milton was an English poet who wrote during a time of:
   (A) Industrial Revolution
   (B) Religious flux and political upheaval
   (C) Renaissance flourishing
   (D) Victorian stability
   Answer: (B)

2. The poem "On His Blindness" is classified as a:
   (A) Ballad
   (B) Ode
   (C) Sonnet
   (D) Haiku
   Answer: (C)

3. What does the poet mean by the phrase "...how my light is spent"?
   (A) How he has used his lamp
   (B) How his life has ended
   (C) How his eyesight has been lost
   (D) How he has spent his money
   Answer: (C)

4. How old was Milton when he lost his sight, according to the poem?
   (A) More than half his days
   (B) Exactly half his days
   (C) Less than half his days
   (D) The poem does not specify an age, only "Ere half my days"
   Answer: (D)

5. What "talent" does the poet refer to as being "death to hide" and "useless"?
   (A) His ability to sing
   (B) His poetic ability
   (C) His skill in painting
   (D) His physical strength
   Answer: (B)

6. The poet's soul is described as being "more bent" to:
   (A) Enjoy earthly pleasures
   (B) Serve his Maker
   (C) Seek medical treatment
   (D) Complain about his fate
   Answer: (B)

7. What question does the poet "fondly ask" in his distress?
   (A) "Why me, God?"
   (B) "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
   (C) "Will I ever see again?"
   (D) "What is the purpose of this suffering?"
   Answer: (B)

8. Who intervenes to prevent the poet's "murmur"?
   (A) His wife
   (B) A friend
   (C) Patience
   (D) A doctor
   Answer: (C)

9. Why is "Patience" written with a capital letter in the poem?
   (A) It is the beginning of a new sentence.
   (B) It is a proper noun, referring to a person.
   (C) It is personified as a divine figure or virtue.
   (D) It emphasizes the importance of the word.
   Answer: (C)

10. What does Patience state that God does not need?
    (A) Human prayers
    (B) Man's work or his own gifts
    (C) Sacrifices
    (D) Material wealth
    Answer: (B)

11. According to Patience, who serves God best?
    (A) Those who work tirelessly
    (B) Those who are most gifted
    (C) Those who bear His mild yoke best
    (D) Those who question His will
    Answer: (C)

12. The phrase "Bear his mild yoke" can be interpreted as:
    (A) Carrying a light burden
    (B) Enduring God's will with patience
    (C) Taming wild animals
    (D) Engaging in physical labor
    Answer: (B)

13. What is described as "kingly" in the poem?
    (A) The poet's resolve
    (B) God's state
    (C) The world
    (D) Patience's reply
    Answer: (B)

14. What do "thousands at his bidding speed / And post o'er land and ocean without rest" represent?
    (A) Human armies
    (B) God's countless active servants
    (C) Swift ships and messengers
    (D) The rapid passage of time
    Answer: (B)

15. What is the central paradox or comforting realization in the poem's concluding line?
    (A) That God punishes the idle
    (B) That action is always superior to inaction
    (C) That those who suffer are blessed
    (D) That those who "only stand and wait" also serve
    Answer: (D)

16. The "dark world and wide" primarily refers to:
    (A) The physical world without the poet's sight
    (B) A world full of sin and evil
    (C) The vastness of the universe
    (D) The unknown afterlife
    Answer: (A)

17. The poem primarily deals with the poet's struggle with:
    (A) Poverty
    (B) Loneliness
    (C) Blindness and his relationship with God
    (D) Political persecution
    Answer: (C)

18. What figure of speech is used in "Patience, to prevent / That murmur, soon replies"?
    (A) Metaphor
    (B) Simile
    (C) Personification
    (D) Hyperbole
    Answer: (C)

19. The poem's structure, with an octave presenting a problem and a sestet offering a resolution, is characteristic of a:
    (A) Shakespearean sonnet
    (B) Spenserian sonnet
    (C) Petrarchan sonnet
    (D) Modern sonnet
    Answer: (C)

20. The "true account" the poet wishes to present to his Maker refers to:
    (A) A financial record
    (B) A detailed autobiography
    (C) A faithful rendering of his talents and service
    (D) A confession of his sins
    Answer: (C)

The Country Without a Post Office by Agha Shahid Ali

The Country Without a Post Office 

 …letters sent

To dearest him that lives alas! away. 

—GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 

1 

Again I've returned to this country 

where a minaret has been entombed.

Someone soaks the wicks of clay lamps 

in mustard oil, each night climbs its steps 

to read messages scratched on planets. 

His fingerprints cancel blank stamps 

in that archive for letters with doomed 

addresses, each house buried or empty. 

Empty? Because so many fled, ran away, 

and became refugees there, in the plains, 

where they must now will a final dewfall 

to turn the mountains to glass. They'll see 

us through them—see us frantically bury 

houses to save them from fire that, like a wall, 

caves in. The soldiers light it, hone the flames, 

burn our world to sudden papier-maché 

inlaid with gold, then ash. When the muezzin 

died, the city was robbed of every Call. 

The houses were swept about like leaves 

for burning. Now every night we bury 

our houses—and theirs, the ones left empty. 

We are faithful. On their doors we hang wreaths. 

More faithful each night fire again is a wall 

and we look for the dark as it caves in. 

2 

"We're inside the fire, looking for the dark,” 

one card lying on the street says. “I want 

to be he who pours blood. To soak your hands. 

Or I'll leave mine in the cold till the rain 

is ink, and my fingers, at the edge of pain, 

are seals all night to cancel the stamps.” 

The mad guide! The lost speak like this. They haunt 

a country when it is ash. Phantom heart, 

pray he's alive. I have returned in rain 

to find him, to learn why he never wrote. 

I've brought cash, a currency of paisleys 

to buy the new stamps, rare already, blank, 

no nation named on them. Without a lamp 

I look for him in houses buried, empty—

He may be alive, opening doors of smoke, 

breathing in the dark his ash-refrain: 

“Everything is finished, nothing remains.” 

I must force silence to be a mirror 

to see his voice again for directions. 

Fire runs in waves. Should I cross that river? 

Each post office is boarded up. Who will deliver 

parchment cut in paisleys, my news to prisons? 

Only silence can now trace my letters 

to him. Or in a dead office the dark panes. 

3 

“The entire map of the lost will be candled. 

I'm keeper of the minaret since the muezzin died. 

Come soon, I'm alive. There's almost a paisley 

against the light, sometimes white, then black. 

The glutinous wash is wet on its back 

as it blossoms into autumn’s final country—

Buy it, I issue it only once, at night. 

Come before I'm killed, my voice canceled.” 

In this dark rain, be faithful, Phantom heart, 

this is your pain. Feel it. You must feel it. 

“Nothing will remain, everything's finished,” 

I see his voice again: “This is a shrine 

of words. You'll find your letters to me. And mine 

to you. Come soon and tear open these vanished 

envelopes.” And I reach the minaret: 

I'm inside the fire. I have found the dark. 

This is your pain. You must feel it. Feel it, 

Heart, be faithful to his mad refrain

For he soaked the wicks of clay lamps, 

lit them each night as he climbed these steps 

to read messages scratched on planets. 

His hands were seals to cancel the stamps. 

This is an archive. I've found the remains 

of his voice, that map of longings with no limit. 

4 

I read them, letters of lovers, the mad ones, 

and mine to him from whom no answers came. 

I light lamps, send my answers, Calls to Prayer 

to deaf worlds across continents. And my lament 

is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent 

to this world whose end was near, always near. 

My words go out in huge packages of rain, 

go there, to addresses, across the oceans. 

It's raining as I write this. I have no prayer. 

It's just a shout, held in, It's Us! It's Us! 

whose letters are cries that break like bodies 

in prisons. Now each night in the minaret 

I guide myself up the steps. Mad silhouette, 

I throw paisleys to clouds. The lost are like this: 

They bribe the air for dawn, this their dark purpose. 

But there's no sun here. There is no sun here. 

Then be pitiless you whom I could not save—

Send your cries to me, if only in this way: 

I've found a prisoner's letters to a lover—

One begins: “These words may never reach you." 

Another ends: “The skin dissolves in dew 

without your touch.” And I want to answer: 

I want to live forever. What else can I say? 

It rains as I write this. Mad heart, be brave. 

(for James Merrill)