Summary of 

Sonnet 23
‘Sonnet 23’  by John Milton depicts the speaker’s vision of his deceased wife and his dreams of

seeing her again, “full sight” restored, in Heaven.

The first octave of ‘Sonnet 23’  contains the speaker’s description of his vision. He saw his wife, in

all her beauty. This did not scare him. Instead, it brought him pleasure and reminded him of

Alcestis from Greek mythology. His wife appeared pure, covered in a veil, yet shining in all her

normal beauty and grace. At the end of the poem, the speaker notes that he plans on seeing

her face, with his full sight, once he joins her in heaven. The poem concludes with the speaker

trying to embrace his wife and waking up from his dream, back into the world of darkness.  

Themes in Sonnet 23 

In ‘Sonnet 23,’  Milton explores themes of the afterlife, loss, and reality. The first and the last of

these come together in the poem to allow the speaker to see his wife as she is now. She’s

residing in Heaven, purified of any of the sins she might’ve had on earth. This is especially

poignant for the speaker since she died in childbirth. It’s clear throughout ‘Sonnet 23’  that this

woman’s loss has had a powerful impact on the speaker. When she disappears at the end of

the poem, he describes being thrust back into darkness. That is, the speaker alludes, his
primary state of being. It might be that only in dreams, in an altered state of reality, that he’s

able to find momentary happiness. 

Structure and Form

‘Sonnet 23’  by John Milton is a traditional Petrarchan sonnet that follows a rhyme scheme of

ABBAABBACDCDCD. The poem is divided into one set of eight lines, known as an octave, and

one set of six lines, known as a sestet. The first eight lines can also be divided into two sets of
four lines, known as quatrains. Milton also makes use of another feature of Petrarchan

sonnets, iambic pentameter. This refers to the metrical pattern, one that consists of five sets of

two beats per line. The first of these is unstressed, and the second is stressed. This is the most

common metrical pattern used throughout the history of English poetry, especially within

sonnets. 

Literary Devices
Milton makes use of several literary devices in ‘Sonnet 23’.  These include but are not limited to,

examples of enjambment, caesurae, and alliteration. The latter is a common technique used in

a variety of poems in which the poet uses and reuses the same consonant sounds at the

beginning of multiple words. For example, “great,” “glad,” and “gave” in the third line and “face,”

and “fancied” in line ten. 

Enjambment is another common device that appears when the poet cuts off a line before it

comes to its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines one and two as

well as that between lines four and five. 

Caesurae is another formal device in ‘Sonnet 23’.  It is concerned with the pauses that a poet

puts into lines. These might be with punctuation or with the meter. For instance, “But Oh! as to

embrace me, she inclin’d” and “Her face was veil’d, yet to my fancied sight.” 

Analysis of Sonnet 23
Lines 1-4 

Methought I saw my late espoused saint

Brought to me, like Alcestis, from the grave,

Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,

Rescu’d from death by force, though pale and faint.

In the first lines of ‘Sonnet 23,’  the speaker begins with the line for which the poem later became

note. He notes that he thought that he saw his “late espoused saint.” This

slightly archaic language refers to the speaker’s recently deceased wife. This experience is far

from terrifying. In fact, the speaker rejoices over her presence. He shows his pleasure in the

following lines by comparing her to a series of mythological figures. The first of these is

“Alcestis.” He uses a simile to bring in this character, a woman who died for her husband,

Jove/Zeus. She was later brought back from the underworld by Hercules, one of Jove’s sons. 

The last line of this quatrain provides the reader with some wonderful imagery that helps one

understand what it was like to see this vision. Alcestis, like his wife, is/was “pale and faint” when

she returned. This is a clever way of described how ghost-like her appearance was. 

Lines 5-8 

Mine, as whom wash’d from spot of child-bed taint

Purification in the old Law did save,

And such as yet once more I trust to have

Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint,

In the second quatrain of ‘Sonnet 23,’  the speaker compares his deceased wife to pregnant

women who, as described in the Hebrew Bible, had to be purified. The reference to “child-bed

taint” is an interesting one. It is usually one of the main reasons why readers and scholars have

associated this poem with Milton’s personal history. His second wife, Katherine Woodcock, died

in 1658 in childbirth, as did his first wife.

He tells the reader in the seventh line that he hopes to see his wife in the future, in Heaven. He

uses the phrase “Full sight” in order to describe how he wants to see her. This might reference
the fact that Milton was going blind towards the end of his life, something writes about

in  ‘Sonnet 19’. 

Lines 9-14 

Came vested all in white, pure as her mind;

Her face was veil’d, yet to my fancied sight

Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin’d

So clear as in no face with more delight.

But Oh! as to embrace me she inclin’d,

I wak’d, she fled, and day brought back my night.

When Milton sees his wife in Heaven, she’ll be all “vested…in white,” the color of purity. It is as

“pure” as her mind is. Any trace of sin has been removed from the woman he loved. 

In the tenth line, he goes back to the vision he saw. He describes how his wife’s face was

covered in a veil. It was “veil’d” (this is an example of syncope). Despite this, he can still see her

and feel her “love, sweetness, goodness.” It shined out of her clearly. This suggests that he

won’t be able to see his wife’s face clearly until he gets to Heaven. There, they will be together

with his sight restored. At this moment, his “fancied” or creative sight is allowing him to see past

the veil. 

In the final two lines of the poem, the speaker describes how his wife declined to embrace him.

This forces him to wake up and acknowledge that she’d fled. The dream was over. Despite the

fact that he was dreaming of this vision, with its absence, he’s thrust back into “night.” This is a

beautiful way of describing the overall emotional darkness of his life.