John Donne

The Trinity Lucas Cranach the Elder

Holy Sonnet 14

Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurped town to another due,

Labor to admit you, but O, to no end;

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captivated, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,

But am betrothed unto your enemy.

Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;

Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Summary

John Donne wrote most of his Holy Sonnets between 1609 and 1611. The poem form is variation on a Petrarchan sonnet that ends with a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme of the first eight lines is the usual ABBA ABBA that we would normally see in a Petrachan sonnet. The last six lines rhyme CDCE EE, the couplet not being typical of Petrarchan sonnets.
The poem is written in iambic pentameter, meaning five groups of unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. The speaker in the poem begins by asking God, who is three persons in the Christian religion: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to violently attack and enter his heart. The speaker wants the Trinity to enter his heart, life and mind aggressively and fiercely instead of compassionately and mercifully. The speaker then compares himself to a seized town. The poem’s turning point occurs when the speaker states that he wants to let God enter, but admits to succumbing to the “enemy” who we can assume to be the Devil. The speaker then asks God to help destroy his ties with said enemy and for God to “imprison” him. The speaker then explains two paradoxical reasons why he wants all of this; he can’t really be free unless God enslaves him, and he can’t stay chaste or abstinent unless God forcibly takes him away or greatly excites him. This extreme use of paradox is characteristic of much of Donne’s poetry and of metaphysical poets in general.

line	Batter my Heart (Holy Sonnet 14)	Analysis
	Batter my heart, three- personed God; for you	The speaker is referring to the Trinity here: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Christian Religion. The word “batter” refers to a battering ram which was used to break down doors to a castle during this time period.
	As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;	He wants God to “batter” his heart rather than the merciful and nonviolent knocking, breathing, shining, and seeking to mend that He has been doing all along. Looking closer at the verbs in this line suggest possible qualities of the three-personed God: the gentle “knock[ing]” of the Father when he could be breaking, the “breath[ing]” of the Holy Spirit when it could be blowing more harshly, and the “shin[ing]” of the Son when he could be burning. The harsher possibilities are brought up in line 4.
	That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend	We finally get an idea of what the speaker is asking of God, “That I may rise and stand […] and make me new.” I interpreted this as the speaker understanding that in Christianity, one must endure the human or worldly life to be worthy of the afterlife with God. The speaker wants to suffer by being beaten down in his present life so that he will be deserving of the everlasting salvation that is promised after death.
	Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.	The alliteration of “b” words in this line emphasizes the intensity and brutality of their meaning within the poem.
5	I, like an usurped town to another due,	The idea of a seized or “usurped” town relates back to the idea of a battering ram mentioned in line 1. I’m not sure who the “another” is, maybe it was once owned by God? Uses a simile to compare himself to a usurped town trying to let God in.
	Labor to admit you, but O, to no end;	We see that he is trying and failing to let God into his “town” or his “heart” and by the “O” sigh he seems saddened.
	Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,	Since viceroy means deputy of the sovereign or master, we see that the speaker is personifying “Reason” and that reason reports to God. Reason is important because God gave us reason to protect and guard ourselves against Satan and temptation. The double use of the word “me” is interesting and almost seems conceited or narcissistic.
	But captivated, and proves weak or untrue.	Here, I believe the speaker is saying that reason failed to protect him from evil and cannot be trusted.
	Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,	This line is very straightforward, yet still sounds self-centered when the speaker says, “and would be loved fain” suggesting that he would love to be loved.
10	But am betrothed unto your enemy.	The speaker is suggesting that he is “betrothed” or engaged to marry the enemy; I assume here that the speaker is referring to Satan as the “enemy.”
	Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;	This line refers to the engagement mentioned in the line prior, and is the speaker asking God to break the knot that he has made with the enemy. The word “again” is interesting because it means that either the speaker is asking for God’s help again, or is referring to a time when God had to break a similar tie, perhaps referencing the Bible?
	Take me to you, imprison me, for I,	The speaker is bringing back the captured castle/town metaphor we were first introduced to in the beginning of the sonnet. Here again he wishes for God to imprison him, bringing back the idea that Christians must endure pain and struggle in order to get into Heaven.
	Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,	The final two lines are both paradoxical. How can you be “enthralled” or enslaved, but still be free?
	Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.	In this line, the speaker either is and always has been chaste, or wants to abstain from now on. The speaker also leaves us with multiple meanings in the word “ravish.” Ravish can mean rape, forcibly carry off, or overwhelm with wonder. Any of these make sense within context of the poem. The speaker’s use of paradox and metaphor throughout the poem show that it is difficult to describe God in simple language, so similes and metaphors seem necessary at times.

References:

Cranach the Elder, Lucas. The Trinity. N.d. Museum der Bildenden Kunste. Leipzig. WikiPaintings Visual Art Encyclopedia. Web. 5 Dec 2012.

Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Ninth Edition. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.

Jokinen, Anniina. “The Life of John Donne.” Luminarium. 5 Dec 2012. <http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/donnebio.htm>