This poem is part of John Donne's Holy Sonnets sequence, which was probably written during the years 1609-1611 and meditates on God, death, divine love, and faith. "Holy Sonnet 14" comes later in the series and depicts a speaker's personal crisis of faith. The poem also boldly compares God's divine love to a rough, erotic seduction. This intimate and unconventional portrayal of a speaker's longing for faith has made the poem one of Donne's most famous.
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The Full Text of “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God”
1Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
2As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
6Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
7Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
9Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
10But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
12Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
The Full Text of “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God”
1Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
2As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
3That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
4Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
5I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
6Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
7Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
8But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
9Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
10But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
11Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
12Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
13Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
14Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Summary
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Themes
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The Agony of Religious Doubt
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Faith as Erotic Love
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God”
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Line 1
Batter my heart, three-person'd God,
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Lines 1-4
for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. -
Lines 5-6
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end; -
Lines 7-8
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue. -
Lines 9-10
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy; -
Lines 11-12
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, -
Lines 12-14
for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Symbols
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The Heart
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Apostrophe
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Paradox
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Simile
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Metaphor
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Consonance
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Assonance
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Alliteration
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Cacophony
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Allusion
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Caesura
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Climax (Figure of Speech)
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Polyptoton
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Chiasmus
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Enjambment
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Batter
- Three-Person'd God
- O'erthrow
- Usurp'd
- Due
- Labor
- Admit
- Reason
- Viceroy
- Captiv'd
- Proves
- Untrue
- Lov'd
- Fain
- Betroth'd Unto
- Divorce Me
- Enthrall
- Chaste
- Ravish
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Speaker
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“Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God”
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More “Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God” Resources
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External Resources
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Donne's Poem Sung in Doctor Atomic — The minimalist composer John Adams, along with director Peter Sellars, wrote an opera about the development of the atomic bomb. Here, Gerald Finley (as physicist Robert Oppenheimer) contemplates the power of the bomb and sings Donne's poem.
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Donne's Poem Read Aloud — Listen to a recitation of "Holy Sonnet 14."
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A Short Biography of John Donne — An in-depth essay on Donne's life and writing, along with additional poems, from the Poetry Foundation.
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The Metaphysical Poets — A concise summary of the Metaphysical Poets along with links to the Poetry Foundation pages for several of them.
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An Early Manuscript of Donne's Work — An early handwritten manuscript of Donne's poems, containing Holy Sonnet 14 among many others. From the digital collections of the New York Public Library.
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Another Manuscript of Donne's Poetry — Another handwritten manuscript of Donne's work, this one from after his death and more ornately bound. From Harvard University's Houghton Library.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne
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