English Literature V

Essay on metaphysical poetry

Moreno, Mario group 32

The ideas of Breaking and Rebuilding in Holy Sonnet 14 and

The Coronet
By the end of 16th century, Renaissance thinking had changed peoples vision of
the world. New geographical discoveries, the invention of the clock, the print,
together with other socio-historical events were changing the ways to perceive
things. In this period we see the emergence of Metaphysical Poetry. The term
was coined by Samuel Jonson who recognised similarities in style and topic
among a group of English poets such as John Donne, Andrew Marvell and George
Herbert. Their poetry was very influenced by the socio-historical and scientific
events of the period. This was also a period of religious conflicts. The act of
Supremacy passed during the reign of Elizabeth in 1599 motivated the
persecution of hundreds of Catholics and also Calvinists - who emerged from the
Protestant Reformation.
In this essay I will compare the use of ideas of breaking and rebuilding in Donnes
batter my heart (Holy Sonnet XIV) and Marvells the coronet. To do so, first, I
will describe the basic religious allusions that are central to the meaning of both
poems. Then, I will comment on the main differences of the poems in terms of
tone, style, and the images they convey.
We can find allusions to the Catholic and Calvinist doctrine in both poems.
Batter my heart starts with a clear allusion to the Christian trinity threeperson'd God. But Calvinists allusions seem more clear in both poems. The idea
of Total Depravity, which was believed to be a consequence of the Fall of Man, is
clearly present in both poems. Men are born full of sin and it is only through
Gods grace that they will be saved. Furthermore, the idea of Unconditional
Election (Predestination) is also present. In both, the poetic voices plead, or
rather command in the case of Donnes, for their salvation. This suggests they
believe they are one of the chosen few.
Paraphrasing: In Batter my heart, the voice pleads to God to take him; he
wants to be liberated from Gods enemy (I am betroth'd unto your enemy)
enthralled and ravished by God. In The Coronet the voice seeks redemption
(redress that wrong) by making a coronet different to the crown of thorns
which had injured the Lord (piercing wound). His new coronet will be different
to anyone made before (as never yet the King of Glory wore). To do so, he
dismantles the one that once adorned my shepherdesss head so as to create a
new. He carefully takes on this task but by the end realises he would fail and
instead of crowning His head, the crown could only crown thy feet. This last
image gives the impression that God will step and crash the coronet; again
evocating the idea of breaking and rebuilding, since the coronet will be
shattered. This is very important because the coronet is a metaphor and, as I
will discuss, it can be read at different levels.
If we read the poems with a religious background in mind we should then treat
them as poems of devotion to Gods Grace. At a first glance, it would seem as if
in batter my heart the speaker was asking God to save him while in the coronet
the voice was only asking God to accept his coronet. However, this is not

English Literature V

Essay on metaphysical poetry

Moreno, Mario group 32

entirely the case, because Marvells poem can be read at different levels. This is
typical of Marvell, a feature of Baroque art. Baroque paintings, for example, are
often crammed with a mixture of textures. Here Marvell plays with mainly three
different levels, namely the coronet, the poem, and the human body
(himself). This is why in both poems we see the idea of breaking and rebuilding.
In the first case the idea is directly connected to the person. In the second, the
words my curious frame will suggest the reader this multilevel interpretation,
given that a frame can be connected to the coronet, the poem, and the human
body as well.
Therefore, the main difference between the poems is that Batter my heart
seems to be more explicit and thus easier to interpret. The meaning of the
coronet, on the other hand, is more implicit and difficult to grasp. This also
results in the first poem being more straightforward, and perhaps even more
violent. This is suggested by the use of enumerations and imperatives which is
more frequent in Donnes poem, for example: to break, blow, burn, and make
me new; Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again; imprison me; enthrall
me; ravish me. This use of imperative also gives the impression that he is
desperate and that he is commanding God, rather than begging, for his
salvation.
At a first reading, Donnes poem might seem to talk about the desire of having
sex with God. This is given by phrases such as take me to you or ravish me.
If we follow Donnes religious background, this should be interpreted as the
ancient theological conceit of the righteous souls marriage to God (Bloom,
1999, p. 106). This interpretation is reinforced by the use of divorce me [from the
devil] (line 11). Moreover, this Christian belief appeared in literature in Spain with
una noche oscura del alma by San Juan de la Cruz. The concept, therefore, is the
desire to be united with God and have ones soul fused with His. Nevertheless,
Donnes poem is more explicit and perhaps more violent, at certain levels, than
San Juans.
The idea of breaking and rebuilding in Marvells poem, as said before, refers to
the coronet, the poem, and the poet (himself). The style of his poem in terms of
syntax, rhythm, and literary devices all seem to contribute to the idea that the
poem is the coronet and that the voice is creating it as it goes. First of all, the
poem is composed of only two very long sentences clearly marked by the full
stop at the end of each stanza; the number of syllable per line is not equally
distributed; the use of enjambment contributes to the notion that the poet is
weaving the coronet; there are different rhyme schemes which also suggest that
the poem is not well constructed;
All in all, while Donnes poem seems to express a clear commitment to Gods
salvation, Marvell on the other hand offers a more difficult image which at first
might seem materialistic, but that is later connected to other grounds. Another
important difference is that Marvells poem has a kind of volta, a twist in the
meaning, in the second stanza where the speaker realises that the poem he is
constructing is not fit to be a crown for his Saviour. And although Batter my heart
is a Holy Sonnet, we could perhaps say that the images of having sex with God

English Literature V

Essay on metaphysical poetry

Moreno, Mario group 32

add a certain sense of humor to the poem which was present in earlier Donnes
poems
To conclude, I have analysed how the image of breaking and rebuilding is
presented in these two poems. It seems difficult to establish a clear relation
between the two but there are undoubtedly some connections motivated by the
authors background and style, that is, they are both religious poems, they both
convey the ideas of breaking and rebuilding (in different ways) and both
present characteristics of metaphysical poems.