Summary and Analysis of Batter My Heart
Introduction
Who is the writer of Batter of My Heart?
John Donne was an English poet, lawyer, cleric and a great scholar and the writer of Batter My Heart. He was born into a catholic family in 1572. He became a cleric in the Church of England. He is one of the greatest representatives of metaphysical poets. His works including sonnets are well known for his preaching. His works are packed with sudden openings, paradoxes, ironies and rhythmic speeches. His works met sharp criticism. His poems are based on true religion on which he spent much of his time.
His earlier works showed great knowledge of satires which brought out the corruption in the legal system and posh courtiers and misunderstanding of true religion. He was ordained deacon in 1615 and served as a member of parliament in 1601 and in 1614. He lived in great poverty for several years. His life depended on his wealthy companions. He spent much of his wealth on womanizing and pastimes and travel. He married Anne More secretly and had twelve children. He died in 1631.
Main Summary of Batter My Heart
The sonnet Batter My Heart speaks about the faithful plea of the speaker to three people’d God- the Holy Trinity. He asks God to use his force to break his soul to purify him. He wants God to overthrow him like a captured town. He pleads to God to break his marriage with His enemy so as to come back to Him. He prays to Him, to be the prisoner of God and forces God to take him to purify him.
What is Sonnet?
A sonnet is a 14 line poem, it is written in iambic pentameter. The sonnet is derived from the Italian word sonetto meaning “sound or song. There are several types in sonnet but the most common and simplest type is known as the Shakespearean sonnet.
The characters of Sonnets
They consist of 14 lines. It can be divided into four sections as a quatrain. The sonnet follows a rhyme scheme strictly. It follows ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/DD. They are written in iambic pentameter. The first three quatrains are written with four lines with alternating rhyme schemes. The final couplet consists of two lines with rhyme. This poem is the 14th in a collection of Holy Sonnets of John Donne. All these poems are religious and deal with true faith, death and love and his relationship with God.
Detail Study of Batter My Heart
“Batter my heart, three-person’d 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”.
He commands the three people God the Holy Trinity (the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit) to open his heart by force. His heart is like a fortress that is filled with ideologies and theories which hinder him to go near to God. He says “come into my heart with great force God of the Holy Trinity. You knocked, gently breathed and shone your light to make me a good person. I may rise and stand but knock me over to stand again pure. Brake me, blow me and burn me with great force so that I can be new again.”
The Poet Has Used
Symbol
A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract. The heart symbolizes his feelings, the poet expresses how much he needs religion to make him a whole person. But his brain takes him away from his heart and he is occupied by various hindering thoughts.
Apostrophe
Poem addressed to a person (typically one who is dead or absent) or thing (typically one that is personified). The poet is making a direct conversation with God. It sounds like a prayer to the Almighty.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. “Batter my heart” compares his heart to a well-built fortress that could not be destroyed. So he pleads with God to open it by using his mighty force.
Paradox
The contradictory statement may prove to be well-founded or true. The way the poet prays to God is paradoxical. Prayer should be like the psalms (Bible the holy book) in a more humble way like a song. But the words and the expressions are more desperate to make him pure.
Allusion
An expression made to call something to mind without a clear reference. The poet submits his prayers to the three persons to God the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost –the Holy Trinity. it doesn’t describe the detail of the Holy Trinity but the way it is expressed brings out the detail of the Holy Trinity.
Alliteration
The same letter or sound appears at the beginning of each line
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new”.
Break, blow, burn.
“I, like an usurp’d town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue.”
The prayer continues. In these four lines, he expresses his desperation to purify himself. He says,” I am like a town that has been captured by an enemy. The enemy is unknown. The enemies are the devil or atheism or any other dark forces that lead me away from God. God must defend the town or the soul of me (the speaker) God must break into the sinful soul to free it from such sins. But my thoughts of wisdom or the worldly pleasures captures me to make my soul weak and unfaithful to you.”
Themes of the Sonnet Batter My Heart
The pain
The speaker after losing touch with God expresses his feelings to return to Him back. He believes that he could come back only by the powerful force of God. The whole poem deals with the pain of the speaker who wants the love of God desperately. He pleads with God in a commanding tone to force him to return from his sinful life. He believes that his faith in God would bring him salvation. He could redeem himself from his sinful past. He could not feel the presence of God in himself so he longs for it and he wants to experience the feeling and the joy it could give.
Using Metaphors the poet brings out his agony. “I like a usurped town to another due” sinful heart has been compared to the captured town by the enemies. The enemies are not described but the readers understand the unknown enemies are devils and sinful lifestyles which take us apart from God. “Break into the Town” the solution has been given by the speaker. He pleads with God to break his soul to make it free. He wants to live in the love of God but he doesn’t have the determination and strength to go ahead.
Faith
The prayer of the speaker starts with his faith to live in God. His spiritual thirst makes his search for his Creator and wants to be filled by the love of God. In reality, he could not overcome his sinful life and his enemies but his faith in the only Savior paves the way for his new life. The speaker shows his agony as if a person has been separated from his love. He misses the presence of God every minute and searches for Him. In the end, the prayer turns out to be a cry to make the speaker a slave and imprison him, for he believes that he can be rescued by God. He could be free from his sinful life.
Conclusion
Thus the spiritual thirst and search of the speaker end in his Faith. He wants God to save him from the clutches of the devil. He wants his soul to be pure and free from sins. In each line, his plea to God increases with passion and with force. He demands God to deliver him from evil powers. John Donne uses Metaphysical features (Metaphysical poetry is a group of poems that have common features: they are all highly intellectualized, use rather strange imagery, use.
frequent paradox and contain extremely complicated thoughts) to compose the whole poem and it may be hard to understand the deep meaning of the poem. But the more one reads the more and better he could understand the feelings of the speaker.