Title - On Her Blindness

• The poem 'On Her Blindness' could be a Critical Response to John Milton's poem 'On his Blindness', Milton's poem depicts the virtue of suffering, which Thorpe strongly refutes
• The poem 'On Her Blindness' is an adaptation John Milton's 1655 sonnet 'On His Blindness' after the poet's loss of sight became complete
• John Milton initially copes badly with his condition and how it stunts his capacity to serve God, but he ends with determination to bear his blindness philosophically, stating that "They also serve who only stand and wait"
• Adam Thorpe takes a different approach to John Milton, acknowledging that his mother, like most of us, is less stoical than Milton, for all her pretence at being able to see more than she does
• The poem 'On Her Blindness' is a personal response, and can be interpreted as a euphemism for death and mourning
• The poem 'On Her Blindness' gives the impression of a eulogy - a reading at a funeral with a reflective and melancholic tone
• John Milton initially chafes at his condition and how it limits his ability to serve God, but the poem ends with a resolution to bear his loss patiently for "They also serve who only stand and wait"
• John Milton, at the end of 'On His Blindness' philosophically states "They also serve who only stand and wait", Milton reflects that he has a place in God's World despite his disability
• John Milton wrote his famous Sonnet 'On His Blindness' in 1655
• The poem 'On Her Blindness' is reminiscent of John Milton's 1655 Sonnet, this intertextual reference could exemplify the speaker's love for his late mother