(John Donne Anne Donne) Undone by God

John Donne’s “Batter my heart, three-personed God, for You” is a graphic poem on a man’s journey to reclaim his faith. Imprisoned by his sinful nature, the speaker pleads with God to change him. Donne couples precise diction with descriptive conceits in order to illustrate the speaker’s longing to cleanse himself. Yet despite his passionate yearning to become utterly faithful to his God, the speaker realizes he cannot achieve his goal on his own for he must be completely made anew in order to rid himself of his sinful ways.

In the first four lines of the poem, the speaker sets up his dilemma with faith. The speaker believes that God looks to kindly upon him and in order to “make [himself] new,” (line 4) God needs to break him down. The speaker insists that in order for him to rise up, God must “o’erthrow” (line 3) him, or knock down. Believing God’s previous methods of retribution were trite and unsuccessful since they only sought “to mend” (line 6), the speaker requests God to bet him down which would allow him to become ultimately submerged by his faith. Donne also adds to his point of breaking the speaker down when he strays from the original sonnet iambic meter of stressed, unstressed as he uses stress after stress in line 4—“your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.” The repetition of stresses reinforces the poem’s message—the speaker wants God to break him down.

In the next six lines of the poem, the speaker uses conceits in order to highlight his inability to rid himself of his sinful ways. In lines five to eight, the speaker compares himself to a town that has been “usurped” (line 5) by another force. Unable to do repel the forces alone as he “labors to admit” God “but Oh! To no end” (line 6), the speaker believes only God can reclaim the conquered town, or the speaker, and return it to its proper state sin the conqueror, or in the speaker’s case sin. The speaker is also unable to use reason, the “viceroy” (line 7) of the speaker, for it “proves weak or untrue” (line 8) so his only way to rid himself of his sins is with the help of God. The speaker’s next metaphor alludes to the prospect of marriage. The speaker insists on his love for God—“dearly I love you, and would be loved fain”—but admits to his dealings or betrothal to God’s “enemy” (line 10), meaning the Devil and even sin. Once again the speaker implores God to break him from his sinful ways when he asks to be divorced from God’s enemy (line 11).

The speaker finishes the poem in a rather paradoxical fashion. The speaker admits that he cannot be free unless God has imprisoned him (line 12/13), and he cannot be chaste unless he has been ravished and enthralled by God. In order to be wiped clean of his sins, the speaker asks for a violent intervention from God. Without the brutal help of God, the speaker acknowledges he will never alleviate himself from the confinements of the Devil and sin.

“Batter my heart, three-personed God, for You” reflects the speaker’s struggle to sever his ties with sin in hopes of embracing God. Though caked with vivid diction and images, the poem centers around the John Donne’s devotion to religion. Like the speaker, Donne wholeheartedly believed in embracing God because towards the end of his life, in what is known as his Death’s Duel sermon, Donne spoke of how one can only achieve salvation and immortality through an absolute embracement of God, Christ, and the Resurrection. Through this poem, Donne illustrates his beliefs that one can only truly possess faith, with all ties to sin undone, with the help of God alone. (639)