"Which English poet (1608-1674) wrote the opening line: ""When I consider how my light was spent""?"
When I Consider How My Light is Spent When I Consider How My Light is Spent "When I Consider How My Light is Spent" is one of the best known of the sonnets of John Milton (d. 1674). The last three lines (concluding with "They also serve who only stand and wait.") are particularly well known, although rarely quoted in context. In the US, it is perhaps most known in pop culture for the Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster Vin Scully, who would recite it when showing a player not in the game. The sonnet was first published in Milton's 1673 Poems. In his autograph notebook (known as
When I Consider How My Light is Spent was responsible in the Commonwealth government. However, the references to light and darkness in the poem make it virtually certain that Milton's blindness was at least a secondary theme. The sonnet is in the Petrarchan form, with the rhyme scheme a b b a a b b a c d e c d e, as can be seen in the text below. When Milton writes "that one talent which is death to hide" he is specifically alluding to the parable of the talents in the Gospel of Matthew. When I Consider How My Light is Spent "When I Consider How