Poem of the Week
I introduced John Donne to you briefly la few weeks ago. He and George Herbert were contemporaries with William Shakespeare. Though George Herbert was a devout priest, seldom if ever questioning that faith, Donne was a different character. Though he eventually became a great pastor in London, he was not always such a decent fellow. As I mentioned, he had two separate eras in his life and poetry. The first era is what has become known as his ‘Jack’ Donne era. He wrote very sensual and sometimes erotic poetry. After he was set up as a priest in London by the king, King James I, he wrote only devotional and religious poetry. This week’s sonnet is one of these.
John Donne
74. "Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you"
BATTER my heart, three person'd God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee,'and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
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Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
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Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.
This poem is incredibly violent. There are a number of images that Donne uses to describe his relationship with God. For your assignment this week explain one image that Donne uses. Explain how it portrays his relationship with God.
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28 comments:
ok, I will try to respond reasonably to this poem, forgive my punctuation and style.
I'd say this poem uses harsh terms and what not to show how the author honestly means that he wants the LORD to use him to do good. The author knows, as we all should hopefully know, that we are evil-doers and the lord has to break, mend and form us into men of faith. Or women, depends whos reading this. But yeah the author Donn is clearly showing his want to have the LORD work through him and pound him into someone who will do good.
HA FIRST RESPONSE!!! HAHAHA PROPS TO ME FOR BEING THE FASTEST TO ENLIGHTEN THE SUBJECT WITH A WELL-THOUGHT AND EXECUTED RESPONSE!!!!!!
Within this powerful and emotional poem, lies deep meaning. The are many particular metaphor's that we can directly relate our relationship with god. My personal favorite out of many, is the description of God symbolizing a blacksmith, as to force break burn and renew our heart to replenish our mind to follow God, and God alone. In summary, its true meaning is to say, we must reshape our lives everyday, ask for forgiveness and have faith in our God.
In this poem, John Donne confesses in shame that he is, in a sense, married to the devil. He says that he is "betrothed to God's enemy", and asks God to untie or break the bond between the devil and Himself. He asks God to imprison him and batter his heart so that John will be able to wholeheartedly serve the one true God without having to deal with the temptation of his current unwanted "spouse", whom John admits to following from time to time. This shows that John wants to improve his relationship with God and worship him only.
In this poem Donne says that he will never be free, close to the end of the poem. I think this image shows that he knows he has problems in his life. Before he cam to know God he knew nothing about what would happen to him when he died. He probably never really thought about it. We no that the sinners will never be free and will have a terrible life in hell. With this comment he is probably thinking that he will always remeber his past and the things he did during that time.
The statement "Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new" shows that God will go unreachable distances to clear our consciences. In this poem John Donne is saying that God will make us new and give us all glorified bodies. The Poet also says that he will “force” to breake, blowe. Etc. This goes to show that it doesn’t matter how deep we’ve fallen into the devils lair but he will always come rescue us and change us. What an awesome God!
The image of being "betroth'd unto your enemey" is quite interesting. It seems to show his understanding that he's destined to fall into Satan's scheme even if his desire is not to. The idea of being engaged to marry your enemy just brings up alot of uncomfortable thoughts. Yet it shows his understanding that we fall into sin no matter what, and in that way are betrothed to evil and yet still God won't "divorce" us even if we want him too sometimes. He apparantly sees himself as very unworthy of God's presence.
One image that Donne uses is the idea of God battering our heart in the first line. When Donne says this he is referring to how God works always in our hearts, to turn us to Him and workship him. When he says three person'd God, this is another image as he is talking about God the three persons
:Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is saying here that we all need not just one of these three persons, but rather all three to work in our hearts. There are times in our lives today when we just think that we can do things on our own and that we are invincible, but throuh all things we are useless without God;s help. Therefore, we need God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit's help in all that we do.
Yes, this poem was pretty violent but most of the terms are really harsh therefore, I personally don’t understand what the author is trying to say. But it did not pop out at me; obviously the person has really strong feelings on everything. I don’t have much to say about the poem.
In the poem the author metaphorically demonstrates his relationship with God. In the phrase “Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new,’ illustrates a realization by the author that he indeed needs God to work through him, a sinful human. God is portrayed as a black smith, and he the project at work. God is taking something so broken, so hopeless, and makes it completely new, transforming every detail.
Donne does use a great amount of violent images in this sonnet. He wants God to make him a new person, the same way a blacksmith would change forms of metal. Donne tells God to knock, breathe, shine, seeke, mend, break, blow and burn. Donne knows he has to be changed into a new sinless form and he is asking his creater, his shaper, to change him.
This poem by John Donne uses some pretty violent imagery. One of these images is when he says that he needs God to ravish him. This seems like a rather innappropriate word choice but when you inspect it closer you can see that it fits. John Donne is saying that he needs God to take him to himself forcefully, that he needs to be abducted by God. So what he is really saying is that he doesn't have the strenght to resist Satan on his own, but needs God to take him from that temptation and save him.
One image in this poem is the image of him being married to sin, God's Enemy, and he is wishing he wasn't married to that enemy. He says he wants God to take him away from his spouse and lock him up so he can't be near God's enemy. At the end he says the only way he can escape that enemy is if God takes strong action towards him.
I would say that John Donne is telling us in this poem that he has a weak relationship with God. From what I got of the poem I think that he is saying that he has a stronger relationship with the Devil. He doesn't seem to be happy with this fact. He seems to want a stronger relationship with God and wants God to BATTER his heart so he can be made new.
The poem that John Donne wrote was very violent. One of the parts that I liked was the description of God symbolizing a blacksmith, as to force break burn and renew our heart to replenish our mind to follow God, and God alone. In summary, its saying that we should change our lives and also that we should trust and believe in him with much more faith than we do.
John Donne is like a piece of metal that God can mold and shape. He wants God to make him new, wholly and completely. He doesn't want to be in control anymore. He wants God back.
The author John Donne wrote the poem "Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you". In this poem he explains the relationship between God and him in a metaphoric way. The line “As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend” shows the passion God has for his creation. God makes us new and he seeks to mend our hearts.
This poem portrays the relationship with God to us humans on earth by explaining that we want help from him and we need him to shape us like a blacksmith shapes metal. The poem says “BATTER my heart” which is asking for God to shape us with his awesome power and make us like new. And I think this is how the poem portrays his relationship with God.
The poet uses harsh words. The poet talks about his relationship with the Lord. John Donne admits that he is sinful man but asks God to keep him close in his arms. He says that if he strays that he wants God to take him back even though he may be fleeing. He tells that God is always in our lives no matter what we are put though. He admits to needing God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in his life even though he may not act in that manner all the time.
This mans poem portrays quite a bit of of his relationship with God. He admits of his own weakness and uncertanity and his need for God in his life. He also kind of says through this that he knows hes not worthy of God but rather deserves 'divorce' from God,like his image of breaking the knot. Again.
Just seeing if this is working:)
To all those who have posted their reactions and comments on John Donne: I am impressed! Good work:)
One of the images that Donne uses to portray his relationship with God, is the most obvious one of God being a blacksmith. ‘As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;’ and ‘your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new’ are both direct references to God being a blacksmith. Donne wants God to make him as God wants him to be.I think this is a very powerful metaphor and I think we should use it in our own lives and prayers.
In this poem I don’t think that the author has a relationship with God. In some parts of this poem it talks about violence. God has symbolized the black smith. It also says at the end of the poem that he has a better relationship with the devil than God.
The statement "But am betroth'd unto your enemie" depicts the opposition between God and sin. The bible talks about how sin and God can not be associated; essentially humans are the enemy of God because of our imperfection. This statement is saying that we are betrothed or one with Gods enemy which is evil. Because of our evil/ sinful human nature we like God’s enemy but because of God’s grace we can overcome the fissure between human nature and God.
I personally didn't really understand much of this poem. I suppose it's because I don't really know how to read the old english(or whatever this actually is). In my opinion John Donne is displaying some anger, frustration or confusion. He doesn't really know what to think about God. He has negative outlook of God, so it seems to me. But, I really not sure how to take this whole poem. I noticed that many people talked about God symbolizing a blacksmith. I too did not see that.
This is Dustin!!!!!!!!!
In this poem Donne asks God to break the tie between himself and satan. Donne writes so drastic because he wants to show how serious he is in that he wants god to "break" him into a... i dont know good disciple. Another reason could be that donne is grieving over who he is, so hes repenting, sad about who he is and he wants to be moulded into a new person.
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