The Apparition

The biggest thing to get from this poem was definitely the tone. I felt as if I could actually hear this man's threat to his lover. This man is saying that if his lover goes off with this imaginary man and thinks she is free, she won't be because he is going to come and haunt her. The speaker gives off this foreboding and creepy tone which makes him almost seem like a stalker or something. He goes far enough to say that this new and imaginary man will not even be able to protect her.

Donne also has some imagery that contributes to this eerie theme. "Then thy sick candle will begin to wink." This text gives this creepy mental image of a candle flickering in the silent darkness, but the use of personification here just adds to the creepiness. Winking is just an uncomfortable action in general. It can freak people out and it is just awkward.

Batter my heart, three-personed God

#13

In general, this is a very strong and touching poem, but I think that the author wanted to get one of his main points across by using paradoxes. Donne wanted to let the reader know that most of the time, situations have to get worse before they truly get better. For example, the text says "If you don't imprison me, I will never be free." This makes no sense when read literally, but the speaker will never be free from sin if they aren't punished and repremanded. This whole poem can be summed up by the theme "Break me down to Build me up." The human race will never know how to do things the right way if they don't get punished for the wrong. Also, once we have done wrong, we can't just sprint back to where we were before we fell behind. We have to learn to crawl, then stand, then walk, then jog, and finally reach where we were. It's a hard thing to do, but sometimes our hearts have to be battered before they are renewed.