The Irony of a Censor

Milton was blind in one eye when he was appointed to the government 1649, 1652. On March 29, 1652, his vision finally goes, according to legend, it was the same day as a total eclipse of the sun. A few weeks after he goes blind, his daughter Deborah is born. He refers to what he could see as quote pure black marked as as if with extinguished or ashy light.