John Donne's Holy Sonnet for the 21st Century
Whether he meant to or not, 17th century poet John Donne left future generations a message. Donne, known for expressive love poems during his early life, describes faith struggles experienced by every Christian in his later poems. No. 14 of “Holy Sonnets” was written privately, during the early1600’s --with no intention to release it for publication. Its frankness, tone, and 17th century style require careful reading (see below). Let me explain why ‘Batter My Heart’ is uniquely appropriate to our times. First, read the entire sonnet.
Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart, three-person'd God
Divine Meditations, XIV
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.
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.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
For readers new to 17th century English poetry, making it through the above lines is a daunting journey. Its rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, and literary standards are common to the reigning literary style. Its imagery and language are not. Donne’s friend and poet George Herbert had explored the fine points of church doctrine with mystical imagery. Donne, a Roman Catholic before converting to Anglicanism and going into the priesthood, struggled for most of his adult life for connection to his faith in light of circumstances. His poems suggest a man engaged with the darker elements of his Christianity, who dared speak of them. His message, it seems to me, is one of hope amid cruel fate.
Students of “Batter me…” no doubt are deeply attached to its theological content. But something else emerges on rereads. As Donne describes his love for God, his triune sovereign, he references the desire that God should ‘batter my heart’ in order to rid him of his spiritual struggles. Donne’s skill in love poetry, here made plain, makes his imagery ever more challenging. Love--at its deepest--is at once both exhilarating and painful. God’s love is as well. How does that work? Through the Psalms we hear the strains of God’s hand of affliction (Psalm 2, 51, 130) shared with his chosen servant, David. Vulnerability of expression, while awkward, is love’s greatest asset, and its most remarkable weakness. Love’s power connects us at our deepest need, meeting us as we are but not as we pretend to be.
Parallels with Christian theology and human love have engaged poets, musicians, and artists for two millennia. We need only study George Herbert’s “Virtue” or Gerard M. Hopkins’ “Carrion Comfort” for examples. Although Donne’s singular devotion to God is manifest, more than once he delves into images that may have pushed the limits of 17th century religious expression.
Ian Dagnal (who in The Poetry Foundation writes a biography of John Donne) makes the case for brilliant innovations. He remarks that Donne’s strange imagery stands out among English poets of his day, saying “It subverts our conventional proprieties in the interest of a radical order of truth.” Perhaps he means phrases like “for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.” Such hyperbole was common among love poets, less so among clerics. Alert biblical scholars, however, will note in Song of Songs the graphic attraction between the bride and her loving husband. * Much religious expression includes sensual language. Donne merely confronts us with multiple layers of it.
What, then, is the message? It comes in the details, or course. Fans of great poetry have no problem with metaphors and extreme images expended in the service of passion. It also parallels passages probably familiar to Donne, perhaps even on his mind as he wrote.
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him;
Redeemed sinner that he is, Donne calls upon God to batter, repeatedly strike, at his soul, keeper of deepest longings for the world and its pleasures. The verbs—knock, breathe, shine---all come from this God whose chastening leads to pain, yet seeks to mend.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy.
Romans 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Though Donne affirms continued affection for his true love (God), he is duplicitous. It is to God’s enemy, Satan himself, that he is betrothed, implying far more than a casual dalliance. Such language resonates with Paul’s struggle with his own flesh in Romans 7.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Romans 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members
Our soul may possess rational faculties of the sort usually commended in matters of the heart. But sin is stronger, and reason’s balancing effect fails in its efforts because it is held captive, most skillfully, by the heart.
It is in the last lines that love’s wandering, the soul’s longing for restoration is freely expressed. This is one of the strongest messages we can derive from “Batter me…”
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
Eph. 1:9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus
The metaphor of ‘prisoner’ reinforces Paul’s deep longing to be free. Only then will we want what God wants. Only then will we be successful breaking the deadly chains of our betrothed, a life of sin. Only then in God’s grace will we be wholly free to accept, to enjoy God’s ravishing affection.
I am thankful to my friend, John Duncan, for introducing this sonnet to me 15 years ago. Since then, it has been one of my frequent companions, through failure, disappointing circumstances, and grief. Because John Donne spoke frankly and openly to my heart, my faith has grown. Perhaps, if we all heard his private tussle between his ‘three person’d God’ and his ‘betroth’d…enemy’ we might face with courage the same opposites in our lives. Perhaps, after engaging this enemy on the turf of divine affection, it would result in our eternal joy. Donne’s message to our dark culture carries the hopeful image of the repentant believer caught in the bonds of sin, receiving gracious freedom through the blood of Jesus Christ. All this from a 17th century poem, sitting quietly on the shelf of history, and delivered intact to the 21st century.
Terry Yount
April, 2022
* My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi. (Song of Songs 1:13,14)
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