"When I Consider How My Light is Spent" is one of the best known of the sonnets of John Milton. The last three lines are particularly well known; they conclude with "They also serve who only stand and
The Blind Milton (Thomas Uwins, c. 1817)
A 1940s US Navy propaganda poster referencing the poem's last line
John milton
Petrarchan sonnet
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The Petrarchan sonnet, also known as the Italian sonnet, is a type of sonnet named after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, although it was not developed by Petrarch himself, but rather by a string
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
…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 but adheres to the Miltonic conception of the form, with a greater usage of enjambment. When…
A Petrarchan Sonnet