What does Milton say about fate and choice in On His Being Arrived to the Age of Twenty-Three?

This poem makes clear that Milton is incorporating both Calvinist ideas of predestination and the Anglican Church's emphasis on free will into his poem. The poem's octave, the first eight lines, focuses on the problem of free will. Milton has chosen his course of study, and as a result he has neglected his own talents, his poetry. This time spent on academics has flourished and flown, as he acknowledges in line 3: "My hasting days fly on." But now, as he readies himself to leave Cambridge, he must face the awareness of lost time. In the poem's sestet, Milton moves toward resolution, which he finds in embracing both the Calvinist idea of predestination and the Anglican promise of free will. He can reconcile his wasted youth if he gives the choice to God. His youth has not been wasted, since it moves him closer to God; this is "the will of Heaven." At the same time, the next line, "if I have grace to use it so," takes the poem back to free will. His talents will grow and develop if Milton chooses to do so. As a result of Milton's playing with this opposition, he creates a tension in his poem. Human effort and divine will are partners in Milton's future. The resolution to Milton's dilemma is in recognizing this fact.