BATTER MY HEART
Like other poetry, John Donne’s “Batter my heart, three-personned God; for you,” make used of the figures of speech. Three-personned God is metaphorically used to mean the Traditional Christian faith about Trinity. Using the first person point of view, viceroy (in line 7) might mean conscience or that small voice coming from the Heavenly.
The atmosphere of the piece is somehow gloomy and even sounds depressing through its consistent use of violent imagery. Its first word, “batter” only represents the first of the following myriad of violent terms like break, blow, burn, imprison and ravish. This is a piece of contradictory. It’s ironic to think that the author has created an impact using some sexual terms to further express his spiritual longingness.
The sonnet, in its old English version looks like a prayer. The predominant use of “You” which represents God depicts that the piece is directed towards the Heavenly and can be viewed as a prayer. It could be a reflection of the author’s longingness. It is an account of a religious troubled narrator who wanted to be redeemed from sin but is too weak to overcome it. Consequently, this led him to express his desire to renew his spirit by voluntarily submitting himself to be ravished spirituality.
Feminist and moralist may interpret this work differently. In this poetry, Modernism and wild imagination is implicated towards faith. Many may react on how the author incorporates “Disturbing rape” towards his religious topic considering that in Christianity (during Donne’s time), Religious topics are seriously viewed as sacred and holy. Religious sectors may posed questions like, “Is it ethical or possible for the narrator to attract Divine grace by the way he writes?” But the author’s way of applying the art of subtleties makes the gist of the topic harder to grasp.
Chelyn Torejas, Literary Criticism
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