"Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me." Unless You capture my attention/affection, never shall I be free, nor shall I ever be sexually pure, unless You fill me with Your delight. I do not believe he was asking God to engage him sexually at all. Rather, he was acknowledging his need of spiritual delight in order to overcome his carnal desires, namely sexual lust. It appears that he was a slave to his sexual appetite and understood that his freedom could only come from being spiritually fulfilled. This poem is a beautiful humble plea for help.
I would suggest that "batter" does not mean "destroy" at all, though it is a call to violent engagement. Perhaps also "shine" should not be taken as God "shining on me" but as an action parallel to knocking, breathing, and mending. I think the conceit is that of a tinker who repairs/refurbishes pots and the like, knocking out dents, breathing moisture upon the surface and rubbing it to restore its shine, and so forth. Donne thus calls upon God to do more than tinker with him! (I once had mistaken the "knocking" for "knocking at the heart" to come in as well, but that seems not to be the dominant image here for it, too, doesn't give proper weight to all the other verbs in the second line.)
Thanks! What a brilliant way to make sense of that cluster of verbs. It had sounded like a vague hodgepodge until I read your comment. Maybe the narrator should be glad life's been easy on him to still only show him the gentle tinker side of God. The other side is not something any sincere person in their right mind would want to be calling for.
a new understanding has been developed in my mind about the relationship with God by your thorough simple teachings but has deep thinking if i catch these worlds according to my present life
What a skill ! I mean my teacher explains this poem for 2 hours, yet nobody understands . You explained it for 17 minutes and damn I find it easy& interesting one !! Thank u so much 💜💜
we analyzed this in AP lit and all of us had so many different speculations!! Wish I could have seen this then so that I could have had more certainty in my thoughts!! really complex work!! 💫
I wonder if there is any significance in the relationship between "three-person'd God" and the two sets of three words Knock, Breathe, Shine and their more violent counterparts Break, Blow, Burn. I think it's possible to equate the first three with the three persons of the Trinity. "Knock" from Revelation 3:20, where Jesus knocks on the door and we have to open the door and let him in, "Breathe" could indicate God the Father - the first creative act with a human being to "breathe the breath of life" in to Adam's nostrils (in Genesis ch 2), and "Shine" could indicate the light of the holy spirit. Then the three counterparts become more violent versions. Knock becomes Break (down the door), Blow (apart) and Burn. (possibly referring to the "refiner's fire" in Malachi - also text in Handel's Messiah.
Thank you for a great explanation of this poem. I really enjoyed it, though I'm not exactly a fan of John Donne. But you make it clear abd understandable. Thanks again. Looking forward to your next video.
Fabulous reading. What do you do with the word "enemy?" My students often read this as a reference to Satan, but that seems unlikely given Donne's faith.
There you are! I stumbled on a great poem and was hoping you would cover it but couldnt find you--Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth by Arthur Clough--like your. Reviews-
@girlynathalie: Because he wanted God to renew his life and mold him into the man God intended him to be? That's what God wants to do with all of us. Give us the life he wants us to have, not the life the world has molded us into. Donne is telling God that he wants to be made in the image of Christ but that his flesh rebels against what his heart wants so he askes God to take over. To save us from ourselves.
