Doth God exact day-labour, light denied

 

Why does Milton ask himself the question, "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied"? (Does God exact/ demand day labour from a man who has lost his eyesight?)

 

Ans. When Milton became blind even before the middle of his life ("ere half my days"), he pondered deeply over the matter. As a result of his being blind his "one talent", his poetic gift, became useless with him, because with his eye-sight lost, he could not do any work of writing. "In this dark world and wide", he felt absolutely helpless, especially with regard to his use of his poetic gift. But he felt that as a servant of God, he was not doing his duty towards Him by making use of his poetic talent, and as such he was not giving any account of his performance of duty. Under such a condition he became afraid that his Maker, God, might be dissatisfied with him, e and might chide him for his non-performance of duty towards Him. This immediately gave a shaking to his sense of justice, which prompted him to ask himself the question "Doth God exact day labour, light denied?" The implication of the question is that God is d absolutely just, and for Him such a question is impossible, since ES demanding service from a blind man is not consistent with a sense of justice.