How Soon Hath Time, an autobiographical poem by famous poet John Milton was written on 9th December 1631. John Milton is known for his contributions during the Romantic Age of Poetry for his poems like Daffodils.
Time is regarded as a burglar who has robbed the poet of his age.
The poet is now twenty three years old and perhaps, has written the poem on his 23rd birthday. Indeed he doesn’t merry as he feels that time has looted his age. The speaker says that he invested his career in producing work but even after giving his twenty two years which flew like a bird with his age on his wings (time is personified as a bird), he had not produced works worth remembrance.
He then says that even after achieving the age of twenty three, he feels that he’s still under adulthood and hasn’t become an adult till now. Numbers has been added to his age but it deceives the truth that he has attained manhood. Age has not brought forth the inward ripeness and it isn’t visible to his eyes as he says, “And inward ripeness doth much less appear”. In the next line, he seems broken-heart’d and shows his sorrow that he failed to be poet, not producing the poems he had dreamed and the man he dreamed to be.
The next lines explains that he yearns for god’s grace and blessings for today or tomorrow, he will indeed be able to produce works that will be worth remembering, only if god shower his blessings on the speaker. This is where he comes back to reality. He says that he will be eventually pushed towards the gate of heaven by time as it’s his destiny. As the speaker says, he can wait to meet Task-Master i.e. God and his fortune will see highest peak in terms of creativity and his passion will be rejuvenated.
In the beginning, the speaker’s doesn’t seem happy with god but with the passing lines, he comes back to reality where he seeks god’s grace and his blessings. John Milton is religious, that’s why he seeks the help of god so that he can find the purpose of his life and his late spring should see bud and blossom.