However, the language that Done utilities suggest a desperate and non-consensual sexual relationship with God, as though the doubts must be banished with force so great that he is unable to resist. While the erotic and religious are confused, the confusion is only mildly dangerous, as the overall intent is beneficial, to make Done a more God-fearing and moral person. The erotic and the religious are confused immediately, as the poem begins with the warlike phrase “batter my heart”l .
The verb ‘batter’ could refer to a battering ram, conveying the urgency that Done requires God to act, as though he is n the middle of a conflict of faith of such magnitude his desperation makes it akin to a siege. Erotically, a battering ram can be seen as a phallic symbol involving rape, as it forces its way into the kingdom through the doors which were meant to only allow desirable people through. The sonnet is written according to Patriarchate custom, with 14 lines in iambic pentameter. However, this line begins with a stressed syllable as opposed to an unstressed one, creating a trochee.
While this plosive does reflect the ferocity of the act commanded, beginning with a stop could also symbolism how he knows should not command acts from God, as though he is forcing it out in order for it to bypass his bane, “reason”2. As a result, this strongly demonstrates how Done is reliant on force in order to overcome his qualms and anxieties. The siege imagery continues as Done describes himself as “an usurps town, ethanol’s due”3. This suggests the speaker was previously in command personally, but was unable to resist the attacks of corruption. As such, he has become “betrothed unto your enemy”.
The betrothal combines both the erotic and the religious, since marriage is both an event o unite couples in the eyes of God and to allow religiously approved sex. The speaker is asking God through to break the bond of the betrothal through sex in order to become consummated with God before the force of corruption. Critic John Parish examines the “usurps town” from the perspective of a more literal town, designating a “king” for God and the lesser title of “princess whom he has appointed his viceroy’ for Done, examining how it “refers back to the walled town, of course; but simultaneously it designates the wretched people within the town…
The complaint of he populace in the second quatrain is that though they acknowledge their duty to the king and labor to admit him, without the guidance of the princess their efforts are futile”5. For Parish, the town metaphor means not that they are tied to a system, but that they are in need of being rallied and controlled. This viewpoint appears further away from the theme of rape, as it suggests that the “reason” has a role in the decision of following God, and that when “usurps” it is as much about the will of the man as it is the will of God.
However, considering the form of the Holy Sonnet, it comes clear that the sonnet and command must have to be written for the command to ever begin. In the context of the erotic and religious being confused, t suggests that the soul of man is destined to be taken by God, since it is the duty of the princess in the 17th century to continue the bloodline through marriage and SE While this was written post-Elizabethan times during the reign of James the first, traditionally and largely the woman was still confined to housework.
Overall, this critic suggests a useful argument concerning the necessary form and purpose oft poem. Structurally, the sonnet disregards the Patriarchate form of creating a problem in the first two quatrains before solving them in the final sestets. The sestets begins with yet dearly love you, and would be loved faint’6. The term yet’ should entail a reversal, yet Done goes to merely insert what nearly amounts to a tautology by saying he loves God, and loves him like a temple.
Done is resisting the generic rule set down by other men to bring himself closer to a love of God, almost as though h is resisting the rulebook of poetry in order to follow the rules of God with greater trench. Margaret Caraway calls to attention the phrase “no end”7 as being an anagram for “Done”, “reinforcing the simile of the poet as a captured town by spelling out the poet’s name”8. This is a further way that Done represents himself the poem as a slave to God’s system, as though he intends to become entrapped so completely in it that his name and identity become contorted in order to bend to it.
As such, this reflects the way he becomes “betrothed”, since in marriage the name o the bride (typically the submissive) changes to accommodate the man, so in both a erotic and religious sense this furthers Donna’s conception of himself as being force into the will of God. The final line constitutes a paradox, as it states that Done will be “nor ever chats, except you ravish MME”9, and sets out the relationship clearly the the speaker wants with God, since “ravish” refers to being raped.
While the previous images were of a betrothal and how “dearly love you”, this strongly contrasts boot of these to create an image more powerful both erotically and religiously, to the poi that God is portrayed as almost tyrannical in his strong ability to possess people so impolitely. Furthermore, ‘chaste’ suggests a lack of sex, which is inconsistent with desire to be raped. However, when virginity is equated with purity, the paradox vanishes. The erotic and the religious become not dangerous, as Done intends to revert back to a more innocent and god-loving state.
As evidenced in the previous couplet he desires nobody ‘except homogeneously MME’10. If he were not to be attacks by God, he would be forced to seek less pure forms of being ‘enthralled’ Through analysis of the key ways in which Done represents and meditates upon the allegations between God and himself through the poem, I have ascertained the nature of his erotic and religious relationship with God is mildly dangerous, but as focuses on Donna’s purification and being relinquished from his “Minnie”, it is necessary since flirtation with such would be far more violent and corrupt. Bibliography Helen Gardner (deed. ). Done, John.
The Divine Poems. Oxford: Clearance Press. 1978 [1633]. Print. Parish, John, E. “No. 14 of Donna’s Holy Sonnets. ” College English, 24. (1963): 299-302. Print. Caraway, Margaret. “Donna’s Batter My Heart, Three Persons God. ” Explicator;8. 3 print. Command to ever begin. In the context of the erotic and religious being confused, this the princess in the 17th century to continue the bloodline through marriage and sex. Critic suggests a useful argument concerning the necessary form and purpose of the poem. Structurally, the sonnet disregards the Patriarchate form of creating a problem saying he loves God, and loves him like a temple.
Done is resisting the generic rules set down by other men to bring himself closer to a love of God, almost as though he spelling out the poet’s name”8. This is a further way that Done represents himself in As such, this reflects the way he becomes “betrothed”, since in marriage the name of the bride (typically the submissive) changes to accommodate the man, so in both an erotic and religious sense this furthers Donna’s conception of himself as being forced be “nor ever chats, except you ravish MME”9, and sets out the relationship clearly that the speaker wants with God, since “ravish” refers to being raped.
