Doth God exact day-labour, light denied, I fondly ask.

 

Explain the following, with reference to the context: Doth God exact day-labour, light denied, I fondly ask."

 

Ans. The lines occur in Milton's sonnet On His Blindness. This is the question which Milton asked himself when he became blind and feared God's displeasure for not serving God with his poetic power.

 

Milton became blind even before the middle of his life as he expresses this fact with "Ere half my days". He believed that God had given him poetic power to serve Him with. But since he became blind he could not perform that duty toward God. So he was suffering from compunction for not having performed his duty to God. He was afraid that God might be angry with him, and might chide him. At this point of his deep pondering over his condition, his sense of justice asserted itself and prompted him to ask himself the question if God demands work from a man who has become blind. This question is a leading question which leads to the answer that God does not demand work from a blind man. This condition also indirectly emphasizes the justice of God - God is always Just, and does never do any injustice to man.