Composition

The form and content of poems are usually closely linked because they help the poet convey deep meanings in a few words. For this reason, it is always a good idea to start analysing “Batter My Heart” by John Donne by looking at both the outer and inner compositions.

Outer composition

“Batter My Heart” is organised in the form of a sonnet, having 14 lines following the rhyme scheme ABBAABBACDDCEE. Sonnets are usually 14-line poems divided into an octet and a sextet which respect a pre-set rhyme scheme. However, in this case, the octet is divided into two quatrains (a section of four lines). The quatrains have an enclosed end rhyme as highlighted below:

Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee, and bend
Your force, to break, blowe, burn, and make me new. (ll. 1-4)

The sextet is formed of another quatrain with enclosed rhyme plus an end couplet:

Except you enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish mee. (ll. 13-14)

This rhyme scheme follows the pattern of Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnets. It is also worth noting that some sonnets follow the rhyme scheme of Shakespearean sonnets, in the pattern ABABCDCD...