Milton’s Sonnet 14

I chose to do my blog post on John Milton’s Sonnet 14. This poem is about the tragic loss of the wife of one of Milton’s friends, and he wrote this to aid in their family’s grieving. Despite the fact that a death has occurred, Milton focuses not so much on the themes associated with death, such as sadness and despair. Rather he creates a happy, comforting and uplifting tone to describe life after death.

This poem helps reassure that the dead wife will be going on to a better place. This can be seen through the exclusive word choices that Milton selected. Milton transitions from the aspect of death and the grave quickly to love, faith and glory. He makes use of a paradox in saying “Of Death, call’d Life,” trying to state that what we think of as death on earth leads to life afterwards in heaven, if our soul has been “ripen’d…to dwell with God.” Although we achieve the opportunity to go on to a better place, we have to leave our loved ones behind in their mourning to continue living their earthly life. The person that the author speaks of has traded in her “earthly load” in exchange for “rest” and the opportunity to “drink thy fill of pure immortal streams,” which is a reality that Milton and other religious persons strive to attain despite the sadness in incorporates for others left behind.

To follow this point, Milton uses lots of examples of imagery in this sonnet. From the statement presented above, in stanza one, the reader can literally imagine seeing a person giving up something heavy and becoming light and, in stanza 4, the person becoming calm, relaxed and drinking from a stream. Milton also uses exquisite use of colors to truly paint a picture in our minds of the events unfolding within the poem. The poem says that “Faith pointed with her golden rod.” Also, the hand-maids, which are women servants that in this poem probably reference angels, were “clad…with purple beams and azure wings.”

This poem uses personification to turn Faith and Love into living beings. These abstract concepts of goodness are the cornerstones that help guide the deceased wife to heaven, an amazing place waiting for her. Faith “pointed her golden rod…to joy and bliss for ever” and Love “led them on.” This makes sense, since “Faith and Love…parted from thee never.” The wife had always shown faith and love throughout her earthly life, and these qualities have not abandoned her; rather, they have stayed with her to transform her spirit and lead her to “dwell with God.”

Another element of this poem that stands out is its rhyme structure and the way it is utilized throughout the passage. This is a Petarchan sonnet that has an octet follwed by a sestet, and follows the rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. The rhythm of the poem is also upbeat, more so than one would think for a poem about death.