Batter My Heart!!!!

This Holy sonnet by John Donne is obviously a very religious poem pertaining to God. “Batter My Heart” is in my opinion very prayer-like. I feel that the subject of the poem is praying to the heavens asking for help. This poem is also a confession to God praising Him and stating what he understands his life to be, as a sinner. John Donne has used metaphors, similes and contrasting ideas to artistically and poetically express his feelings for the trinity.

The first line of the poem starts out in a very reverent manner, “Batter my heart, three personed-God.” This submissive tone sets the mood for a prayer-like fashion. And as in any prayer, one is usually asking for help, forgiveness, or giving praise; which this poem has all three. “Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;” is directed to God asking to not be “betrothed” to His enemy. “Again” shows that this is not the first time the subject is asking for help to not sin.

Lines 1 to 4 are nothing but giving praise. The subject of the poem first acknowledges the Trinity, “the three personed-God.” Then tells God He is in total control. God can help the subject rise and be able to stand firmly throughout life, and can bring down the subject, “o’erthrow me.” The subject of the poem understands God has the power to break, blow, burn, and also make him new. The all mighty God has all the power according to the subject of the poem.

Lines 5 to 8 suggest the idea of faith and the subject’s duty to push forward the word of God. The word labor, to mean hard work, emphasizes the subject’s effort to believe in God. He asks God in line 7 to reason his inner faith to defend or testify God is true. Yet, in line 8 the subject confesses his faith is weak or is untrue; both weak and untrue can be taken for their literal meaning. The subject confesses his faith is not strong enough to know God. He asks for help to know God exists.

Lines 9 and 10 are also a sincere confession. The subject uses the word love to show strong emotion. Then, the subject says he would fain, meaning gladly, love God, but he is engaged or betrothed to Satan, God’s enemy. This confession shows the subject’s acceptance as a sinner.

Finally lines 11 to 14 are his pleas. The subject desires whole heartedly to be taken to God’s presence. Using such strong words as imprison, enthrall and ravish, Donne effectively shows the desire of the subject to be faithful and to be with God. With Donne’s use of the meanings of enthrall and ravish to mean the opposite, I see their use in the poem as a way to more fully express the extent of his desire to be faithful.

One attribute of John Donne’s style of poetry is his use of antonyms. In the third line of the poem “that I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me,” rise and stand do not usually flow with the idea of being overthrown. Also in line 4 Donne uses the words break, blow, burn and the line make me new. The first three words have devastating effects and make me new is God’s helpful quality all attributing to God’s power. Also in lines 9 and 10, the subject opened his heart to God using the word love then confesses he is betrothed, meaning engaged, to His enemy; two words having similar meanings but confessing two ideas. In lines 11 and 12, the subject says to divorce him, yet the very next line he says to imprison him. The last lines of the poem have words such as imprison, enthrall and ravish. We can take these words literally, but we all know that poets, such as John Donne, never write a poem for face value. In this poem we see that Donne likes to talk in metaphors and in opposites. So I believe the poem is about giving himself totally to God.

John Donne uses his word choice to effectively show his true feelings. Words that usually have negative connotations, as we see can have very positive meanings to show one’s love and desire.(714)

sorry for the tardiness-NATIVE SON

Richard Wright’s Native Son portrays the life of Blacks during the 1940’s. The reader gets a first hand look at the lives of Blacks. We see the problems they face, the decisions that are needed, and most of all, the effect of the rich-white race has on Blacks. With in the first sixty-nine pages we the reader can easily see and feel the effect of the whites on the blacks. Richard Wright’s style of writing is not very profound and elegant, but more colloquial and easy to read.

In the opening scene of the novel with the huge rat, we see the conditions of living that many blacks endure. The rat emphasizes the poverty in which Bigger and his family are living. It would seem that only in third world countries families would live with rats, but the novel takes place in the United States of America. Richard Wright successfully portrayed the living conditions of blacks during his time.

Bigger and his friends are a very close bunch. They do just about everything together, when it comes to watching movies, talking about girls, and most of all getting into trouble. The gang plans to rob. They have robbed many times before but, something is different this time. The owner of the store is a white man. The effect the white man has on the black population is tremendous. It scares the gang, to know that the white man is in total control. And to rob one, is just calling for death.

We can also see the effect of the white man, when Bigger goes to the job which Mr. Dalton, a white millionaire, gave Bigger. Before Bigger even enters the house, he has a certain amount of respect for the white man. Knowing all along, he his life could be taken. From years and years of persecution, the rituals and expectations of the white man were still alive. An example would be Bigger’s dilemma of whether he should enter from the front or the back. This sign of respect and unwritten rule by the white man effects Bigger’s life. Throughout the entire visit Bigger had with the Mr. Dalton, he had to think about every little move, thought and decision. Whether he should make eye contact, or should he think about the teenage girl. We see a totally different side of Bigger while he is at the Dalton house, compared to how he acted around his neighborhood and friends.

With his friends, Bigger is the main man. He is not scared of no one. He will stand up to anyone and anything of his own race. But when it comes to the white man, tough guy attitude goes out the window. Bigger does not know how to act around white people. This shows the effect of the white man that was very much alive during the 1940’s.

The first few pages of the novel have kept me interested and have given me an insight to the lifestyle of Blacks during the Richard Wright’s time.

As for the style of the author, it has made the novel an easy read. There are no big extravagant words needing to be looked up. The language is pretty casual, but still upholds the art of writing a novel. The words and ideas flow easily form idea to idea. (554)