Biblical Allusions In John Milton's Paradise Lost

John Milton utilizes Biblical allusions to convey his evaluation of how his life has been lived or how his time has been spent. The poet especially contemplates his life’s contributions considering his physical state of blindness. Milton wonders whether or not he is using his abilities for God’s utmost glory. He longs to do more, but feels that his disability holds him back. At the beginning of the poem, Milton’s fleshly thinking allows him to believe that God expects us to go out and do physical works with our hands, and because he is not capable, then there is no way that he is pleasing God. Milton’s thinking transforms to spiritual thoughts when he begins to reference passages of the Bible. The poet realizes and expresses at the ending of the poem that God does not need our works; he wants our heart’s devotion. Milton first alludes to

His last line of his poem refers to the passage in the tenth chapter of Luke, “39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” (Biblia) Milton now knows that he can be like Mary and be sitting at the feet of Jesus and have more of a purpose than those like Martha who are constantly too busy to lend an ear to the words of the Lord. To conclude, John Milton wrote “On His Blindness” using Biblical allusions in order to get his point across about the purpose and meaning of life. The Bible often sheds light on those topics. Readers can easily relate life and Biblical parables. Milton feared that he was not living up to the same expectations that the Bible laid out, because he was ‘light denied.’ However, the Bible constantly reiterates that God does not look at one’s outward appearance, but looks at one from within. The poet chose the best resource possible to make this