I’ve just been informed that today is the day in the Anglican liturgical calendar normally assigned to the feast of John Donne, the great English poet. But since Easter fell so early this year, everything is a bit out of whack. Still, in honor of Donne, here’s one of his more powerful sonnets, courtesy of John Stamper:

Holy Sonnet XIV

Batter my heart, three-person’d God ; 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.
I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth’d unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

COMMENTS

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3 responses to “John Donne”

1. R-J Heijmen says:

   03/31/2008 at 3:34 pm

   A beautiful poem on how life and freedom only come about through death & despair. Donne clearly would have taken issue with those who seek to defend God by saying that He only ever does things that are “good” in our eyes.

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2. Choi says:

   03/31/2008 at 4:47 pm

   r-j: building off of your interpretation, i’ll add that it’s not death and despair in themselves that bring life, but only God who can free us from our death and despair. we looked at this poem in one my classes recently and for the first time i was struck by donne’s despair over “reason”. the enlightenment exalted human reason so highly, but donne is honest enough to say that “reason” gets us no where fast. talk about putting humanity in its place; our progress really isn’t progress after all!

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3. Trevor says:

   04/02/2008 at 2:01 am

   Hey guys. Nice comments.

   Reply