In John Donne's poem, "Batter My Heart, Three-Personned God; For You", Donne .
expresses many different themes throughout. One that we see is the metaphor of invasion and .
resistance. He also uses different terms such as, imprison, enthrall, chaste, and ravish which help .
us to get an in depth understanding of the point of the poem. We see that the focus of this poem .
is on a constant battle between good and evil, a person's longing to be connected to one of the .
two. This poem portrays a relationship that he would like to have with God.
We are first introduced to the metaphor of invasion and resistance in the very beginning .
of the poem. The figurative sense of Satan's force upon him represents the invasion. "I, like a .
usurped town, to another due," shows that he feels like Satan has taken over him and God should .
fix him because he wants to be mended and become a new person. But he also brings up the .
figurative sense of divorce which represents the resistance. For example when Donne says, .
"divorce me, untie or break that know again," he no longer wants to be connected to Satan and is .
asking for God"s help. He goes back and forth between the two through out the entire poem.
Donne uses the terms imprison, enthrall, chaste, and ravish to show us the importance of .
his point. He uses imprison to make the point that he feels helpless and needs direction except .
that he cannot seem to free himself from sin. He feels imprisoned by Satan and doesn"t think he .
could ever get free. The term enthrall is used to show that he wants God to overcome him and .
wash away his sins. He wants to be captured by God and be made into a new person. Ravish is .
used to signify being seized or carried off by a force. Chaste is also used meaning virginal or .
celibate. In other words he feels lifeless because he has no control over himself and feels he will .
never get to live again. I think that Donne uses these terms to prove the power that Satan has over .
