I analyzed the poem “Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you” which is one of Donnes earlier erotic poems. The title of this poem is taking away the usual love for women and turning it towards a love for god (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). First off, it was a Petrarchan sonnet because the poem is made of 14 lines,three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet at the end. The speaker appears to be a pathetic desperate lover (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). The poem is written in first person because the speaker is narrating himself. The tone of the speaker would be helpless and lustful because he is trapped and is asking god to help but also has an erotic desire. The setting seems to take place in medieval times if we use the speaker as a damsel in distress, god as the …show more content…
This poem could be called an extended metaphor because Donne uses a simile comparing something “like an userp’d town” but never actually compares it to anything. Also he seems to use a paradox in the poem by first saying “batter my heart” which he is telling god to break the walls of the city, then he compares himself to a captured town, but then ends with “imprison me” which means he wants to be captured again. Donne also speaks about an”enemy” which can assumed to be the devil and in this poem Donne is asking god to help him escape from the devil. The “erotic” part of Donne’s poems can easily be seen here with lines such as,”o'erthrow me, and bend / Your force”,”Labour to admit you”,”enthrall”,”Ravish” which can all have a sexual meaning behind them. This poem is also full of contradictions such as when Donne writes “knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend” and “break, blow, burn, and make me new” he is receiving one thing but he said he would rather have the other. Another example of a contradiction is when he says “That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me,’and
In order to better understand Philip's critique of Donne within the lines of her poetry, a reading
John Donne?s poem connects flesh and spirit, worldly and religious ideas in a fascinating way between seemingly unrelated topics. He compares sexual intercourse to a bite of a flea and says that now their blood has mixed inside the flea. He also compares the inside of the tiny flea to the entire world, including the couple.
In the poem “Batter My Heart, Three-personed God” by John Donne a plea of repentance is being seeked from a humbled man to his Creator. Donne has fell into the clutches of Satan and he is in desperate need of God’s mercy, however the poem doesn’t seem to be a plea for that mercy it is more along the lines of a violent cry out for the Holy Spirit to take over. This poem is a young man that is struggling with sin, and is seeking salvation by any means possible; he is even willing to take desperate measures to have salvation. Donne is in a constant struggle between good and evil. In the poem Donne is pleasing with God to enter into his heart and rid him of all of the evil that has overtaken him. Bold imagery is used throughout the poem to explain the constant struggle that the writer is experiencing that the given time.
...al in lines one and two with enjambment between the words “digest” and “my soul.” He even goes so far as to conflate God the Father with depraved man through enjambent and the phrase “robbed man” in line 9. In fact, this line seems to actually serve as a kind of “volta” due to the ultimate extreme of conflation, thus following the traditional Italian sonnet form. This emphasizes the purity of the form as representative of the Trinity in this sonnet. Donne’s use of the form of the poem itself as an embodiment of the Trinity seems to further emphasize the perceived interrelatedness of all things, and therefore supports the mutual statement of love that opens the poem. So, the conflation rises to yet another level, where the poem itself is a resonation of God’s love as a manifestation of the trinity, and Donne takes the role of creator, thus acting in the image of God.
John Donne an English metaphysical poet and 16th century preacher made his name through his poems on love and his technique of creating opposing imagery through allegory and language (Ribes, 2007). Once Donne renounced his catholic faith and made a commitment to the Church of England in 1615, he wrote a series of religious poems, hymns, and sermons (Hodgson, 1999). The most well-known of his religious poetry is a series of nineteen Holy Sonnets spanning over the early 16th century, the most famous of these is Holy Sonnet XIV also known as ‘Batter My Heart’. Holy Sonnet XIV’s prominence in modern literature is due to the debate surrounding the intended meaning of the poem and the parallel the writer draws between the act of religious enlightenment and the pleasure derived from sexual activity. The Cambridge Companion to John Donne describes the poem as “best known literary text in English that figures spiritual redemption as a purifying sexual act” (Gibbory, 2006). This essay will link in to the description given by The Cambridge Companion and will apply a feminist reading by drawing on the writing of Judith Butler, Helene Cixous, and Sigmund Freud the theorised reading will be achieved by firstly examining the dominant or received reading of the for-mentioned poem.
The poem opens with two lines that lay the groundwork for the analogy and that have a sexual implication. The word “digged'; and the image of “love’s mine';, obviously allow for the comparison between the Platonist’s and the alchemists. Donne explains that some have experienced more love than he has, and, in having done so, have penetrated “deeper'; into “love’s hidden mystery,'; that is, they have reached a point beyond sensual love where they have found it’s true “centric'; or essential happiness. This would be analogous to alchemists, who, after many attempts, have been able to extract gold from other metals. Due to the diction that Donne uses and the manner in which he expresses himself in these two lines, it is possible to extract their sexual meaning that serves to ridicule the claims and means of the Platonists as well as the alchemists. The words “digged love’s mine'; can be interpreted as...
On the first read Batter My Heart appears to be about a complicated love triangle, but with multiple readings, a deeper meaning becomes more obvious, it’s a personal appeal to God. In the poem the speaker asking to be broken and rebuilt again, because despite their intense love for the other person, they are unfortunately promised to another; their love’s enemy. They ask to either be cut off completely or to be taken in and imprisoned. The tone of the speaker’s voice is very intense, reflecting in the words they use such as, “overthrow me”, “Your force”, “imprison”, “ravish”.
Shakespeare and Petrarch, two poets popular for their contributions on the issue of love, both tackle the subject of their work through sonnet, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the way, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, it is clear that in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare in fact parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Shakespeare seems, by all accounts, to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s piece by giving an English poem portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. In reviewing "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan work. The leading major contrast between the two poems is the piece structure utilized (McLaughlin).
One of Donne's famous poetic devices is diction. Again in line one and ten appear "Mark" and "Oh stay." These words are denotations of strong causative voice in order to obtain mistress' attention. In addition to diction, another outstanding part is his rhetoric skill. For example, "Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee," (line 3). His using different ...
...ne exclusively on himself and his lover. By doing so he says the sun will be shining on the entire world. It is apparent in both poems the tone and language is dramatic, as this is typical of Donne’s writing style. His use of imagery and symbolism effectively present his experience of love. However it is the structure that builds up the emotion throughout the poems as Donne starts in each poem to refer to a seductive love, then in conclusion realises the importance of true love. ‘The Good Morrow’ clearly shows evidence of this when at the beginning Donne states he ‘suck’d on country pleasures childishly’ and in the end understands that a ‘Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die’.
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
During the course of Edmund Spencer’s Amoretti, the “Petrarchan beloved certainly underwent a transformation” (Lever 98); the speaker depicts the beloved as merciless and is not content with being an “unrequited lover” (Roche 1) as present in a Petrarchan sonnet. Throughout Sonnet 37 and Sonnet 54, the speaker provides insight into the beloved not seen within the Petrarchan sonnets; though the speaker does present his uncontrollable love for the beloved, he does so through his dissatisfaction with his position and lack of control. In Sonnet 37, the speaker describes the beloved as an enchantress who artfully captures the lover in her “golden snare” (Spencer, 6) and attempts to warn men of the beloved’s nature. Sonnet 54, the speaker is anguished by the beloved’s ignorance towards his pain and finally denies her humanity. Spencer allows the speaker to display the adversarial nature of his relationship with the beloved through the speaker’s negative description of the beloved, the presentation of hope of escaping from this love, and his discontent with his powerlessness. Spencer presents a power struggle and inverted gender roles between the lover and the beloved causing ultimate frustration for the speaker during his fight for control.
question B) How do language and verse form contribute to meaning in this poem? In the first stanza Donne uses very commanding language, four lines. out of nine begin with an imperative, and this shows his commanding. intellectual persona and attitude towards women. In the first Stanza Donne presents us fantastical images of various impossibilities.
Alternatively, one can argue that Donne (or his poetic voice) experiences a transient relationship in this poem that may or may not develop into a Platonic Idea. Like Plato's cave-dwellers who came out into the light, however, he has learned a great deal and become capable, as a consequence, of achieving the Platonic Idea of sexual love in a possibly new, deathless encounter that is "mixed equally."
The above mentioned ideas prove that Donne successfully conveyed his meaning to the reader in a concise manner where every word was loaded with profound ideas. Pound includes this particular poem as an example of great literature because it follows his logic—one has to be very well read to understand the poem its full extent. Furthermore, it satisfies all the criteria to be classified ‘great literature’ by Pound, but the reader is left with the task of understanding why Pound believes what he does.