Sixteenth century poet John Donne author of the Holy Sonnet Fourteen; ‘Batter my Heart’ is known as the founder of the Metaphysical Poets a term used to refer to 17th-century English writers whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrical quality of their verse. Donne adopts Petrarchan sonnet form for the majority of this poem which aids the seamless fluidity of this sonnet. Donne’s Religious poetry demonstrates turning the traditional object of love away from a woman and sexual lust and towards God, he demonstrates a fixation for spiritual purity in which he blends earthly, sacred love whist coining elaborate new forms.
The poet presents an appeal to God opening with …show more content…
This violent language has been suggested by some critics to connote ‘Divine Rape’. The expletives used in this sonnet which is woven throughout much of the speakers work is shocking for audiences today and resoundingly more so in the Sixteenth Century, an era plagued by Christian ideals, for this reason John Donne’s poetry was not published until long after his death. However Thomas J. Steele maintains that the Sexual meaning of this sonnet is a Secondary meaning and therefore cannot be explicitly …show more content…
This strong sense of fear for the after-life is reflected through much of Donne’s religious sonnets after his wife Anne Moore died on 15 August 1617, five days after giving birth to their twelfth child, a still-born baby. Due to this, Sonnet 14 is laced with under-tones of concern for Donne’s own mortality. (Stubbs 2008) disagreed with the notion of uncertainty within the voice throughout Donne’s religious poetry in saying, ‘The record of his "Holy Sonnets" (several of which were written before he took Holy Orders) proves that his smart thinking actually deepened his convictions, rather than complicating or thwarting them.’
The speaker never specifically refers to the devil or death as the enemy, for this reason the poet entices the audience’s attention making them too question the unknown. The caesura used at the end of this line provides a short pause before the final impacting lines, wherein the third quatrain bleeds over into the concluding
The poet presents an appeal to God opening with …show more content…
This violent language has been suggested by some critics to connote ‘Divine Rape’. The expletives used in this sonnet which is woven throughout much of the speakers work is shocking for audiences today and resoundingly more so in the Sixteenth Century, an era plagued by Christian ideals, for this reason John Donne’s poetry was not published until long after his death. However Thomas J. Steele maintains that the Sexual meaning of this sonnet is a Secondary meaning and therefore cannot be explicitly …show more content…
This strong sense of fear for the after-life is reflected through much of Donne’s religious sonnets after his wife Anne Moore died on 15 August 1617, five days after giving birth to their twelfth child, a still-born baby. Due to this, Sonnet 14 is laced with under-tones of concern for Donne’s own mortality. (Stubbs 2008) disagreed with the notion of uncertainty within the voice throughout Donne’s religious poetry in saying, ‘The record of his "Holy Sonnets" (several of which were written before he took Holy Orders) proves that his smart thinking actually deepened his convictions, rather than complicating or thwarting them.’
The speaker never specifically refers to the devil or death as the enemy, for this reason the poet entices the audience’s attention making them too question the unknown. The caesura used at the end of this line provides a short pause before the final impacting lines, wherein the third quatrain bleeds over into the concluding