Class Post 6: Batter My Heart

John Donne

74. "Batter my heart, three person'd God; for, you"

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 breake, blowe, burn and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due, 5
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely'I love you,'and would be loved faine,
But am betroth'd unto your enemie: 10
Divorce mee,'untie, or breake that knot againe;
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you'enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.


John Donne certainly had a way of verbalizing the intense relationship that Christians often have with their God. It is very much the style in which Song of Solomon is written, if it is interpreted as pertaining to the relationship between God and His people. It is vivid and moving, with references to sex and marriage in a more explicit sense than that of the parables in the New Testament.

It was interesting for me to find the link from Ross's blog to the snippet of audio on The New Yorker website. The link to Batter My Heart is the link to a piece from Doctor Atomic by John Adams based on the words of John Donne. Ross's latest article for The New Yorker focuses on the opera's recent arrival at the Met.

On my recital are three pieces by Dorian Le Gallienne that are settings of three Divine Poems of John Donne. One of these is "Batter My Heart". It is set remarkably similar to the aria in Doctor Atomic, most likely because the poetry so strongly implies certain accents and rhythms. Naxos Music Library has a good recording of the Gallienne pieces. I went back and listened to it, just to get a sense of how similar they are.

Class Post: Fun with words

I had fun playing with the new online Glossary with audio.
It was more than just a Glossary with audio clips, Ross when above and beyond to not only explain a little about where the clips came from, but in some cases went on give a little more background and other interesting related information.
I went through all twenty-six letters of the alphabet. I was originally going to choose just M and B to look at.
It's great sometimes because he has clips of several different aspects of terms. For example the added-6 chord has 3 different examples, some abstract, and others in context. I had not noticed that the repetitive motif in Mack the Knife was structured around an added-6 chord, but after hearing it, it made perfect sense.

Other fun parts are in the links that you would necessarily pay attention to in the glossary, the ones that include the record label, and catalog number. I clicked on a few of those.
Certain other links in the glossary correspond directly to the book's companion audio samples online. Ross's blog for his book has certainly become more than just a blog. It's like having a CD-ROM or something for a text book. His passion for the book and the topic are evident in the amount of time he seems to spend. He almost creates his own little The Rest is Noise world.