. John Donne was a religious poet from the 1500's. The poem" Batter My Heart," is a religious sonnet, which reflects Donne's spiritual conviction.
             The poem is about a man who is franticly begging God to change him. He feels incarcerated by his sinful nature. The first two lines of the poem lay down the tone of the poem, which is desperation. He pleads to God to "batter" his heart and come into his life so that he may be cleansed from sin.
             The theme of the poem is the longing for renewal. In line five through eight, he explains his feelings of total helplessness and compares himself to "I, like an usurped town". He feels he has no power to allow God into his life. "Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend." The metaphor is a viceroy who rules over a town and Donne wants God to rule over his heart.
             Donne uses commas and semicolons in almost every line to stop the reader. It is used in line 11, "Divorce me, untie," or in line 4 "Your force, to break, blow, burn." This makes the reader pause and think about each word. This line also brings in the metaphor of a blacksmith. Donne is suggesting to God to use whatever force he has to bend his heart towards religion. The metrical pattern of the poem is iambic and an ABBA-ABBA-CDCDDD rhyme scheme. The use of visual imagery or paradoxes is in the words that are cruel such as imprisoned, broken or ravished, and make the reader see the disturbing emotional condition of Donne. Line nine "Yet dearly I love you and would be loved, but am bethroed unto your enemy," show his struggle with Satan.
             Donne's poem is gripping and portrays the feelings and struggles that most people have with their faith. In Line one, the phrase "three-personed God" is an allusion to the Trinity, which is the Father, son and Holy Spirit in the Christian religion. One way to paraphrase the po...