Speaker

The main character in the poem is the speaker, who expresses his thoughts on his new blindness and his struggle with faith after becoming disabled. The narrator is a deeply religious figure, whose primary relationship in the poem is with God. He is enormously concerned with how to do what God wants of him. Readers also learn that the narrator is a talented individual with a profound desire to use those talents to serve God. The narrator is insightful and capable of change: he is able to move away from his initial despair and recapture his sense of service to a divine power in the poem.

God

Sonnets are often directed at a single figure, and the object of this poem is God. Most of the poem revolves around the narrator's feelings towards God. The first part of the poem describes one version of God: as a stern...