"Batter My Heart, Three- Personed God": Tone

      In the poem, Batter My Heart, Three- Personed God, John Donne writes of a person's feelings about and relationship with God.  The speaker begins with a soft, loving tone as he describes God's ability to "batter (his) heart..." as well as "knock, breath, shine, and seek to mend" (Donne).  These thoughts craft the notion that the speaker looks at God as an almighty being, powerful force.  However, the tone gradually hardens.  The speaker recognizes that he must "labor to admit... but oh, to no end" (Donne).  This implies that the narrator dislikes being the "weak or untrue" laborer to God, when he does nothing, but love him.  I interpret this poem to be the thoughts of a man with conflicted feelings.  The speaker feels he "never shall be free" from God, but God, being a powerful force, will always be there for him (Donne).