Metaphysical poets, selected poems Contents
- Social / political context
- Religious / philosophical context
- Literary context: ideas and innovations
- Aire and Angels
- A Hymn to God the Father
- A Hymn to God, my God, in my Sicknesse
- A Nocturnall upon St. Lucies day
- At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
- A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Synopsis of Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Commentary on Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Language and tone in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Structure and versification in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Imagery and symbolism in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Themes in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- A Valediction: of Weeping
- Batter my heart
- Death be not Proud
- Elegie XIX: Going to Bed
- Elegie XVI: On his Mistris
- Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward
- Lovers' Infiniteness
- Oh my blacke Soule!
- Satyre III: 'On Religion'
- Show me Deare Christ
- Since She Whom I Lov'd
- Song: Goe, and catche a falling starre
- The Anniversarie
- The Dreame
- The Extasie
- The Flea
- The Good-morrow
- The Sunne Rising
- This is my playes last scene
- Twicknam Garden
- What if this present
- Aaron
- Affliction I
- Death
- Discipline
- Easter Wings
- Jordan I
- Jordan II
- Life
- Love II
- Man
- Prayer I
- Redemption
- The Church-floore
- The Collar
- Vertue
- Hymn in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
- Hymn to St Teresa
- St Mary Magdalene, or the Weeper
- To the Countesse of Denbigh
- Ascension - Hymn
- Man
- Regeneration
- The Night
- The Retreate
- The Water-fall
- A Dialogue between Soul and Body
- On a Drop of Dew
- The Coronet
- The Definition of Love
- The Garden
- The Mower Against Gardens
- The Mower to the Glo-Worms
- The Mower's Song
- The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Faun
- The Picture of Little T.C. in a Prospect of Flowers
- To his Coy Mistress
- Upon Appleton House, to my Lord Fairfax
- An Elegie upon the Death of the Deane of Paul's Dr John Donne
- To a Lady that Desired I would Love her
Language and tone in Batter my heart
Dramatic language
The language used by Donne in Batter my heart is highly dramatic.
- The monosyllabic verbs especially hit us, as they are run off as a list in quick succession:
- ‘knocke, breathe, shine' contrasting with
- ‘breake, blowe, burn' The alliteration is carried on from the opening ‘Batter'
- The paradoxes are similarly paired:
- ‘rise and stand' with ‘o'erthrow';
- ‘imprison...enthrall' with ‘free'
- The verbs predominate, just as monosyllables do.
Dramatic voice
The initial outburst reminds us of Donne's dramatic voice, seen in so many other openings:
- ‘Busie old foole' (The Sunne Rising)
-
‘For Godsake hold your tongue' (The Canonisation)
-
‘Blasted with sighs' (Twicknam Garden)
-
‘Spit in my face' (another of the Holy Sonnets).
However there is considerable variation of tone: it is not all strident. 1.6 has more a tone of longing; 1.9 is much softer, a declaration of love. The drama is never rant. There is a curious tension between importunity and reverence.
Investigating Batter my heart
- Examine the proportion of statements to commands in Batter my heart
- Is there a pattern?
- Is ‘commands' exactly the right word?
- Can you think of better terms to use for the voice he uses to God?
Literally, using words of one syllable; using few, short, words as if reluctant to speak.
Alliteration is a device frequently used in poetry or rhetoric (speech-making) whereby words starting with the same consonant are used in close proximity- e.g. 'fast in fires', 'stars, start'.
The tone of voice in which anything is to be read in: e.g. lyrical, dramatic, contemplative.
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