Holy Sonnet 14 Batter My Heart – John Donne – Flashcards

APOSTROPHE

ALLITERATION "BREAK,BLOW,BURN"-THE REPETITION OF THE HEAVY ,BLUNT "B" SOUND CREATES THE IDEA OF BEING BLUDGEONED WITH A HEAVY BLUNT INSTRUMENT SUCH AS A BATTERING RAM.THIS ENHANCES THE IMAGE THAT DONNE WANTS TO CONVEY,THAT THAT GOD MUST ENTER THE BATTLEFIELD TO WIN DONNES HEART FROM THE ENEMY. [NOTE THAT THIS EFFECT IS ENHANCED BY THE LIST OF SINGLE WORDS SEPARATED BY COMMAS-IT GIVES THE EFFECT OF A SERIES OF INDIVIDUAL HEAVY BLOWS INFLICTED BY AN INSTRUMENT SUCH AS A BATTERING RAM.]

THE CHRISTIAN GOD IS "THREE-PERSON'D" (THE HOLY TRINITY IS THE GOD THE FATHER,SON AND HOLY SPIRIT).BUT HERE DONNE COULD ALSO BE IMPLYING GOD'S POWER AND MIGHT:IF THE "THREE-PERSON'D GOD ATTACKS THE FORTRESS ,IT SHOULD BE EASY FOR HIM TO OVERRUN IT AND CAPTURE THE SINGLE HEART OF THE SPEAKER

HE COMPARES HIMSELF TO A USURPED TOWN AND SAYS HE IS "TO ANOTHER DUE" BEING AWARE THAT HIS HEART HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY HIS SINS.HE ALSO "LABOURS" TO ALLOW GOD IN-IT'S A STRUGGLE-AND HE IS NOT SUCCESSFUL:"TO NO END"

IT IS AN EXCLAMATION WITH A TONE OF REGRET ;THIS SHOWS THAT THE POET REALLY DOES WANT TO "ADMIT" GOD TO HIS HEART ,AND IS STRUGGLING TO DO SO,BUT REGRETS THAT HE HAS FAILED UP TO NOW.

GOD GAVE HUMANS REASONING POWERS SO THAT RATIONALITY WOULD RULE THEIR THINKING AND ACTIONS AND THEY WOULD NOT BE SLAVE TO THEIR INSTINCTS AND EMOTIONS.

IN THE 17TH CENTURY WARFARE TOWNS WOULD BE BESIEGED BY THE ENEMY AND FORTRESSES WERE BUILT TO WITHSTAND ATTACK.TOWNS WERE ENCIRCLED BY A STRONG WALL TO KEEP ENEMIES OUT.WHEN ATTACKING A TOWN OR FORTRESS ,A BATTERING RAM WAS USED REPEATEDLY WHICH WOULD INFLICT A SERIES OF IMMENSELY HEAVY BLOWS UPON THE WALL OF THE TOWN OR FORTRESS-UNTIL EVENTUALLY THE ATTACKING FORCE WOULD BREAK THROUGH THE WALL AND BE ABLE TO OVERRUN THE TOWN OR FORTRESS DONNE USES THIS CONCEIT TO CONVEY THE IDEA THAT HE WANTS GOD TO OVERPOWER HIS RESISTANCE AS IF HE IS THE INVADING FORCE UPON DONNE'S FORTRESS.THE POET FEELS THAT IT WILL REQUIRE QUITE A VIOLENT FORCE TO BREAK DOWN HIS RESISTANCE AND WIN HIM AWAY FROM THE TEMPTATIONS THAT BESET HIM

A PRISONER OF WAR :HE IS CAPTIVE OF HIS EARTHLY TEMPTATIONS.HE HAS BEEN CAPTURED EITHER BECAUSE HE PROVED TO BE A WEAK SOLDIER,OR BECAUSE HE DESERTED HIS OWN FORCE

HIS LOVE FOR WOMEN-THIS IS A WEAKNESS BECAUSE IT SUGGESTS THAT WOMEN (or his wife)ARE COMPETING WITH HIS LOVE FOR GOD -AND WINNING THE BATTLE

"BETROTH'D"-IT HAS CONNOTATIONS OF EARTHLY LOVE .ONE IS BETROTHED TO A WOMAN

ESSENTIALLY THE THEME OF THE POEM IS THE BATTLE THE POET HAS WITHIN HIMSELF BETWEEN HIS SIN/LOVE FOR EARTHLY THINGS AND HIS LOVE FOR GOD AND DESIRE TO SERVE GOD.THE USE OF PARADOX HIGHLIGHTS THIS CONFLICT ,BECAUSE A PARADOX CONTAINS A PAIR OF CONFLICTING IDEAS THAT HAVE TO BE RECONCILED IN ORDER FOR IT TO MAKE SENSE.

YOU MAY CHOOSE TO DISCUSS THE PARADOX IN LINE 3 (B)LINES 12-13;(C)LINE 14; (D) OR THE ALTERNATIVE TITLE OF THE POEM "PRAYER FOR VIOLENCE ".

IT IS ESSENTIALLY A PETRARCHAN SONNET:RHYME SCHEME :ABBA ABBA FOR THE OCTAVE ,A TURNING POINT(VOLTA) AFTER THE OCTAVE INDICATED BY THE 'yet" AT THE BEGINNING OF LINE 9. BUT IT IS ALSO HAS FEATURES OF AN ELIZABETHAN SONNET ,MOST NOTABLY THE RHYMING COUPLET TO CLINCH THE ARGUMENT.IT ALSO HAS AN ELIZABETHAN RHYME SCHEME IN LINES 9-12

Petrarchan sonnet, iambic pentameter

Love, fear, religion, death, power, sin

An appeal to God to force himself into his life, through a serious of conceits that are shocking and violent in nature.

Sexual ("heart", "love", "chaste", "ravish"), violence ("Batter", "knock", "o'erthrow", "break", "burn", "enthral"), military ("viceroy", "defend", "captiv'd", "enemy", "imprison"), marriage ("betroth'd", "Divorce"), holy ("three-person'd", "God"), power ("force", "usurp'd", "weak", "break", "free")

Triplet of conceits, holy trinity converted into human trinity (craftsman, soldier, lover)

Present tense, imperatives and violent, active verbs ("Batter", "knock"), alliterative plosives and syndetic listing ("break, blow, burn and make me new")

"Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you / As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend" (syndetic listing = devotion, tripling "three-person's" = allusion to God, imperative "Batter" = panic, pronoun "you" = unworthiness or distance)

"I, like an usurp'd town, to another due, / Labour to admit you, but O, to no end;" (interjection "but O" = anguish, extended metaphor "town" = passivity and acceptance)

"Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, / But am betroth'd unto your enemy." (modal verb "would" = fear of failure, conjunction "But" = regret, lexis choice "enemy" = warlike and hatred opposition)

"Take me to you, imprison me, for I / Except you enthral me, never shall be free," (imperatives "Take" = overwhelming desire, enjambment = energy, pronoun "you = distance or unworthiness)

Imperative Shocking imagery

- Devotion to religion as Dean of St Pauls - Apostasy (Catholic - Protestant) - Controversy surrounding marriage to Anne Moore - seen as morally questionable - The Holy Trinity: Christians believe in a triune God, who has three persons but is somehow essentially one in being. These persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost - form the Holy Trinity.

Petrarchan Sonnet divided into octave and sestet (volta). Final rhyming couplet of "free"/"me" indicates element of Shakespearean reinforced by Iambic Pentameter. - Has no resolution, however.

Constant friction between sacred and profane

'Batter my heart' - Metaphysical imperative arresting opening - Violent active verb - Starts with a stressed syllable instead of an unstressed (as is the norm in iambic pentameter). Immediately, the violence desired is displayed. - 'my' - first person possessive pronoun; personal appeal/struggle 'three person'd God' - Allusion to the Holy Trinity 'for you' - Formal address ENJAMBMENT for COMPLEXITY 'knock, breath, shine' - Asyndetic listing - Strength of feeling - Plosives (knock and seek) GOD AS A CARPENTER: CONCEIT: He is responsible for creating man, therefore must have the power to mend him also 'Seek to mend' - Wishes for God to act forcefully, in order to mend him 'That I may rise and stand ... and bend your force to break .... and make me new' -Polysyndetic list with extended metaphor of military and siege contrasts - Modal auxiliary verb 'may' uncertainty: will god be up for the challenge, is he irreparable or just not ready to give himself wholly to the strength of faith? 'break, blow, burn' - Tripling, mirrors trinity -Alliterative plosives - Emphatic and violent

GOD AS A SOLDIER 'I' - Personal pronoun, reminder of the personal feelings evoked in the poems 'Like an usurp'd town' - Simile to describe his feelings toward God, unwilling to let God in - OR has been invaded by the devil and needs God to cleanse him of his sinful deeds, God has thus far been unsuccessful 'Labour' - Verb suggestive of struggle, cannot let God in, a foreign invader 'But O, to no end;' - Capitalised interjection - Frustration, inability to commit to God's will - Melodramatic - Caesura for emphasis, lamenting 'viceroy' -DENOTATION of the word is 'one who is appointed to rule a country' - CONNOTATIONS of the word are those of overthrow, Donne wishes to relinquish control and responsibility for his faith, in effect he is asking God to make the difficult decisions for him as he wishes to be subjugated. 'me, me' - Repetition of personal pronoun - Foreground self as personal subject 'should defend' - Modal auxiliary verb, cannot find the source of his inability to give himself to faith 'But is captiv'd' - Present tense; immediacy and relevance which transcends the time in which it was written - Distancing himself from responsibility for his feelings 'Weak or untrue' - His reason has been compromised by satan - Weak as it allows him to give in to sin - Untrue as he's being allowed to doubt God's power

VOLTA God as the rapist: the ultimate contradiction: takes human ecstasy and carnal desire, using it to address his longing for religious order 'Yet dearly I love you' - Formal - Direct address - Pre-modification = strength of feeling - Verb: the physical as opposed to abstract 'would be loved fain' - Future aspect 'would', not yet happening, something is in the way of their physical union 'but am bethro'd unto your enemy' - Speaker identifies as a bride: helpless and emasculated - Allusion to satan - Without God's intervention his soul will belong to the devil 'Divorce me untie ... take me to you, imprison me' -Lexical field of force and violence: tripling. Only violent deeds will set him free -He wishes to be set free but then bound again, to stop him from straying back to the devil?

COMPLEX SENTENCE 'Except you enthral me, never shall be free' - Paradox, will not be free until he is god's slave God must sin in order to stop him from sinning; perhaps wishes to diminish God unto a more human level 'Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me' - Paradox - Noun 'chaste' wishes to reclaim innocence - Ravish, connotations of rape - Excitement equal to sex without having sex/ sinning. The main source of his sin being through adultery - Perhaps he feels like an adulterer himself concerning his apostasy

Probably most famous physical poets, highly intellectual and philosophical, ingenious conceits and use of wit. Poetry concerns abstract thoughts on existence, truth and role of God

Written after asked to be an Anglican priest. Expresses inner desperation and mental turmoil - wants to let God into life but feels he is too weak (can't refrain from sex), God needs to be able to satisfy him mentally as much as he can be physically - shocking content for time and present!

Audience of friends as controversial - not likely to have been read during sermon

Pleading to God for a violent overmastering (overcome, conquer him) - to show faith can be painful

Loose iambic pentameter and Petrarchan sonnet, enjambment in first sentence makes it complex reflecting the complex nature of the argument

Lexical set of violence - violent and powerful verbs to portray God as conqueror. Juxtaposition of Donne being imprisoned to God can make him free

Imperative voice (ordering God), first person pronoun = personal to Donne, syndetic and asyndetic listing = strength of feelings (God is carpenter to 'mend' Donne)

Plosive alliteration + tripling = harsh feelings