This poems external form is a perfect example of a Petrarchan sonnet following the rhyme scheme of abbaabba cdecde. The injambment of the poem kind of through the flow off, especially towards the end, in my opinion it also took me a few times reading it to fully understand the whole meaning behind this poem but I ended up enjoying it.
I read the first line and it caught me, it was a perfect hook personally: "When I consider how my light is spent," I thought of this as translating into: "When I think about what I spend my time on," then I especially wanted to read on.
This first line was a connection to my life in the way that I like to look back on every day and assess what I did. Sometimes I used every minute wisely where I then fall asleep that night feeling successful and happy. But more than likely I find something everyday that I wasted my time on.
Starting on the third line the Bible was alluded to, specifically the parable of the talents. Basically what happens in this parable is that there are three men and they are each given a certain amount of talents. The men go throughout their lives and share their unique talents and even gain more, except for one man who buried the one talent he was given instead of sharing it with others. The men that went out sharing and gaining pleased God while the one man that hid his talent didn't.
We're taught from this story to serve others, perform our talents and grow even more talents. The next half of the poem goes on with this belief and says, "God doth not need either man's work or his own gift" and proceeds to explain that God is pleased with those that keep his commandments, share his gospel and serve him and those "who only stand and wait."
This poem is paralleling the words of another piece of literature (the Bible) to emphasize the points Milton enjoys and believes in; which is basically that we need to live our lives sharing the talents unique to each of us, we need to come out conqueror in all our trials and serving those around us.
I agree with you at the beginning, with that line meaning to think back on the day and assess what you did. Though I got a different opinion overall. I don't think that he meant to just say that we need to spend our lives sharing our talents, but that we need to prove to God that we have a reason to exist. I looked at Milton's biography in Norton, like Mrs. Arnold showed us, and a year before this poem was written, presumably, Milton had lost his sight. He had also dedicated himself to Puritan cause in Europe. The Puritan's believed that you were destined from the start and you would show where you were destined to go from acts you did and you always had to prove to God that you were worthy. The lines '"God doth not need / Either man's work or his own gifts: who best / Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best."' is him saying that even if they work hard, they will still only succeed if they have the right mind-set of pleasing God. Also, he relates it to his situation, with "My true account" and "light denied?"
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