On His Blindness
“All service ranks the same with God!There is no first or last.”
When I consider how my light is spentEre half my days, in this dark world and wide,And that one talent which is death to hide,Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bentTo serve therewith my Maker, and presentMy true account, lest He, returning, chide;Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?I fondly ask: but Patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, God doth not needEither man’s work, or His own gifts; who bestBear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His stateIs kingly; thousands at His bidding speed,And post o’er land and ocean without rest;They also serve who only stand and wait.
Words in this poem
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
- fondly adv.
- Foolishly. Verstegan (1673).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On His Blindness is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems Every Child Should Know The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library, Project Gutenberg ebook #16436; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Mary E. Burt, On His Blindness, in Poems Every Child Should Know (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16436, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/poems-every-child/on-his-blindness.html, id L25324.
Form and metre
On His Blindness is 16 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 ABBAABBACDECDE spentA · wideB · hideB · bentA · presentA · chideB · deniedB · preventA · needC · bestD · stateE · speedC · restD · waitE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “All service ranks the same with God! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| There is no first or last.” | 6 | ······ |
| When I consider how my light is spent | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, | 10 | ·········· |
| And that one talent which is death to hide, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| To serve therewith my Maker, and present | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| My true account, lest He, returning, chide; | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘· |
| Doth God exact day-labour, light denied? | 10 | ··˘/·/··˘/ |
| I fondly ask: but Patience, to prevent | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Either man’s work, or His own gifts; who best | 10 | /˘········ |
| Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state | 10 | ·········· |
| Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And post o’er land and ocean without rest; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| They also serve who only stand and wait. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.