Batter My Heart, Three-person’d God by John Donne

The poem Batter My Heart, Three-persond theology by John Donne is a invocation to God from the poet. Donne is a struggling sinner, and the poem is his desperate cry for help. He wants God to be in his life, no matter how serious and pain in the assful it is, and thirsts to be ein truththing God wants him to be. The poem gives a sense of Donnes complex relationship with God. It is apparent that he is in the midst of a struggle with good and malign, and begins with a plea to God to enter his oculus by any means necessary and rid him of the evil that has taken over.Donne intents graphic and raging imagery through forbidden the poem as a way of masking his utter desperation. This imagery is used in an exaggerated way to convey Donnes strong desire for God, as well as implying that there is nearlything else that is hindering his ability to allow God in himself. In using the metaphor batter my heart in the first line, Donne is implying that he wants God to use his actor like a battering ram to enter his heart. This gives a strong indication that there is some foreign force be it sin, evil, or the devil preventing Donne himself from allowing God to enter.He refers to God as the three-personed God, alluding to the paroles teaching of God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Donnes complaint is that God is not beingness aggressive enough in how he is dealing with him the Father knocks, the Holy Spirit breathes, and the Son shines his watery upon him, hardly Donne wants him to use his power more aggressively to mend him, help him become wise, and force the evils out of him. The progression to uncultivated imagery shows Donnes desperation he no longer wants God knock, but is asking him to break the door bolt down, not just breathe but to blow, and not shine, but to burn.The use of alliteration with the words break, breathe and blow help in drawing attention to their severity, and emphasizing the terminus of Donnes desperation. He believes t hat in using these destructive actions, God will free him from his weaknesses and set out him new again. In the second quatrain, it becomes clear that the first four lines are meant to be taken metaphorically, rather than literally. Donne likens his heart to a city that has been overtaken, and he wants God to be aggressive in taking it back.This expands upon the indication of the unknown force Donnes heart is the city that has been taken captive, and God is the savior that he wants to break down the gate and take it back by force. It becomes obvious in this quatrain that the previously unknown force memory Donne back is his sense reason and rationality. He shows that even his mind has failed him in his attempts to be close with God. Donnes reason is what should be fighting for him in his battle and defending him, but instead is captured, shows weakness, and even lies to him.He suggests that although he believes God is the rightful ruler of his heart, his rationality has been impai red such that he cannot defend Him and let Him in. The sestet begins with further reinforcement of the notion that Donne wants God back in his life, no matter how difficult it may be. He begins by stating that even though his spiritual life is currently in a state of struggle, he still has a deep affection of God and wants to love and be love by Him. His state of desperation is the result of this struggle. Donne quickly returns to the shocking imagery that has been prevalent throughout, claiming he is plight to the enemy.This claim of engagement to the devil is a paradox he is not actually going to draw the devil, but at the time scents unwillingly more connected to Gods enemies and their ways than to God and Gods ways. He asks God to divorce him, to untie or break the engagement he has with the devil. At the end of the prayer, Donne uses two more paradoxes to explain how deep of a connection he wants to feel with God. He begs for God to im prison him to set him free and his feel s as though Gods prison is the only way in which he can be truly free of his weaknesses, and pure of evils.He also begs to be shiped and filled with delight so that he may become pure, which carries some sexual imagery. As with the metaphor in the first quatrain, this is not a literal request he simply wants to be convinced of the power of God, so that he can have a close and engaging relationship with Him. These contradictions show a deeply emotional affection towards God, and when taken figuratively are very effective in conveying his message of desperation. Although Batter My Heart, Three-persond God is filled with graphic and violent imagery, John Donne is not attempting to be crude or inappropriate.Donne is simply explaining his own tremulous relation with God, and uses the violent imagery as a means to show how desperate he has become in his armorial bearing to bring God back into his life. If he allows God to do whatever it takes, even if it means pain and the loss of his very freedom, he knows God can bring him into a close, loving relationship with Him and make him into the person he thinks God wants him to be. So he can pray, Batter my heart, break, blow, burn, imprison me, enthrall and ravish me, for he believes his God is a loving, pure, kind, and just three-persond God and he trusts Him with his very heart, soul, and life.