"Batter my heart, three-personed God"

"Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me" (12-14).

"Batter my heart, three-personed God" by John Donne is an excellent example of how poets are able to write in a multitude of styles and not always confuse me.  I definitely learned that this poem can be summarized in four words.

Paradox after annoying paradox.

While the word paradox is fun to type and say, the implications in a poem like this go far beyond the realm of imagination - big words are fun!  Anyways, the first sentence introduces the idea of "battering" someone's heart in order to heal it.  This is basically the equivalent of telling someone to stab me in the head because I have a headache, but it makes sense in context.  The speaker has turned towards the Devil's influence and needs to have the evil hammered out of "him."  (Can we just make this understanding that all speakers are guys unless it is explicitly stated otherwise?)

Another paradox is in the last two lines (thank you question 3).  It is odd to think that by trapping the speaker, that God will be freeing his thoughts, but it is more symbolic of starting a new leave (is that the phrase?) without the Devil's influence on his life.

The last line of the poem is also a paradox (shocker).  Basically, without God intruding on the speaker's personal bubble - is that a nice way to put it? - the speaker will never experience His grace.

P.S. I enjoy the time in class to read the poems.