Miltonic Sonnet Poetry

Unlike Petrarchan sonnets, Miltonic sonnets do not follow a specific rhyme scheme. Instead, they utilize a freer rhyme structure, often employing an ABBAABBA CDECDE or ABBAABBACDCDCD pattern.

Miltonic sonnets are characterized by their complexity and rich use of language, allowing poets to explore intricate themes and ideas within the confines of a structured form.

They often embody philosophical reflections, theological musings, or personal experiences, showcasing the poet’s intellectual depth and mastery of language.

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Sonnet 19 – When I Consider How My Light Is Spent

by John Milton

Milton’s ‘On His Blindness’ reflects on loss and faith, concluding that solace is in serving God by patiently bearing life’s burdens.

This sonnet by Milton is one of the many he wrote while blind. An example of a Miltonic sonnet, the poem is composed in iambic pentameter and follows the standard structure of octave and sestet. The placement of the "volta" is also open for interpretation: like the Italian sonnet, the sestet marks a shift as the speaker realizes good works mean nothing to god, but the last two lines also deliver the overarching message as with Shakespearean sonnets.

When I consider how my light is spent,

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

And that one Talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

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Sonnet 23: Methought I saw my late espoused saint

by John Milton

‘Sonnet 23: Methought I saw my late espoused saint’ shares a beatific but ultimately bittersweet vision of a widower’s late wife.

The poem's distinctive rhyme scheme, structure, and even themes all point to it being an example of a Miltonic sonnet. However, despite being separated into an octave and a sestet, the volta appears not in the ninth but in the final two lines. Here, the speaker is shaken from the illusory vision to find themselves alone in the dark.

Methought I saw my late espoused saint

Brought to me, like Alcestis, from the grave,

Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave,

Rescu'd from death by force, though pale and faint.

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Miltonic Sonnet Poetry

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Miltonic Sonnet Poetry

Sonnet 19 – When I Consider How My Light Is Spent

by John Milton

Sonnet 23: Methought I saw my late espoused saint

by John Milton

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