analyses of a sonnet 'batter my heart

"Batter my heart, three-person'd God" is the 14th sonnet written by John Donne and included in the compilations called “Holy Sonnets”. This collection was published posthumously. It infers this collection was published after John Donne died. All sonnets have three characteristics in common: they are 14 lines long, have a regular rhyme scheme, and have a strict metrical structure. The word "holy" hints that it may be related to religion. Because the sonnet is mainly above the speaker’s fervent desire to accept God. An important feature of the sonnet is that it is a sonnet of the metaphysical tradition. They use unusual analogies or comparisons between ideas and objects. For instance, one could compare two lovers to the two arrows of a compass. It could be that two lovers are very different from each other; they are going in different directions like the two arrows, but they are united in their hearts like two arrows getting together in the center of the core of a compass. It needs to be thought a bit more beyond the usual pattern of comparing things. Another important feature of the sonnet is that it is written according to the Petrarchan sonnet form. Petrarchan sonnet form can be defined in two ways. One is through the rhyme scheme and the other is the division of lines according to octave and sestet. In this sonnet, the first eight lines refer to the octave whereas the last six lines refer to the sestet. This sonnet follows iambic pentameter. Iamb: unstressed (-) – stressed (/) Syllable: sound unit Penta: five Meter: beat/rhyme -/ -/ -/ -/ -/ “As yet/ but knock/ breathe, shine/ and seek/ to mend” It’s related to rhyme. When it is read like prose, it does not contain any beauty or harmony. but when this is read with attention to the parts of the stressed and unstressed words, it adds a different atmosphere to the poem. “Batter my heart starts with a strongly stressed first syllable, whereas more regular iambic meter would start unstressed. It stands for the aggressive and unusual action that the speaker asks for. ” Normally people ask for help or guidance from God not particularly to attack. This reveals how desperate this speaker is to admit God into his heart. “Three- person’d God” refers to God in three divine people: the father, the son and the holy spirit. This enhances the power and influence of God. When addressing God, the speaker prefers to say three-person’d God instead of just God, so the speaker adds some more power into the image of God. Person’d, o'erthrow, captiv'd, lov'd, and betroth'd are some examples of elision. In this sonnet, elision is used to maintain the meter. For example, the word overthrow has three syllables. Because it is written iambic meter, it is good to only carry two syllables. The paradox in line 3 carries a deeper meaning. Rising and standing in this line refers to the revival of his faith, not just any rising and standing. It refers to the revival of his faith which could only be achieved only take place if God could overpower all his doubt, all his weaknesses of things that keep him away from believing in God. The paradox stands for his fervent desire to believe in God or have faith in God. In 1-4 lines, in brief, He asks God to “batter” his heart, as opposed to what God has been doing so far: just knocking, breathing, shining, and trying to help the speaker heal. “Bend your force” means “make use of your power. In 5-8 lines, he compares himself to a town that is captured. “To another due” suggests that the town belongs to someone else. “To no end” means “to no significant effect” in this sonnet. God gave him reason to defend himself against evil, “but now the speaker’s reason has turned on God, so the speaker is having trouble showing his faith in God. ” In 9-14 lines, “betroth'd unto your enemy” is that the speaker is married to God’s enemy. “Ravish me” amounts to that this has a violent sexual connotation. It is as if the speaker wishes to be raped to become pure which is a paradox. “There is much repetition of the personal pronoun me. This shows that the feelings and thoughts in Batter My Heart are very personal to the writer”. There are two main themes in the sonnet. One is a conflict between faith and rationality and the other one is the power of spiritual love over earthly love. The speaker talks about the reason being the local ruler in the town. That reason turns against God because of this, he can’t show his faith in God because the original function of reason about it according to the speaker is to show him the correct path towards heaven, and since reason is captured and now weak, he can’t do this. So, there is an internal conflict between reason and faith. This weak reason obstructs him from being spiritually complete. There are some forces that keep him away from God. First, he says he is like a captured town belonging to someone else, and the next moment he says he is a groom married to someone else than his true love. These forces stand for earthly bonds or earthly love. This is the love towards everything that is earthly. It could be romantic love or any other materialistic love. Spiritual love, on the other hand, stands for the love towards God, the speaker’s love toward God, and God’s love towards the speaker. This spiritual love is more powerful than all kinds of earthly bonds and love for that matter.