As somebody who studied lit, this is an impossible question to answer, so I'll just link to my favorite John Donne ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne htt

As somebody who studied lit, this is an impossible question to answer, so I'll just link to my favorite John Donne ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne ) poem from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Sonnets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Sonnets, number 14 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Holy_Sonnets#Holy_Sonnet_14 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Holy_Sonnets#Holy_Sonnet_14 Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurp'd town, to another due, Labour to admit you, but O, to no end. Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captived, and proves weak or untrue. Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain, But am betroth'd unto your enemy: Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again, Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. It's set to music in the fantastic Doctor Atomic by John Adams, with a superb recording available from http://www.metopera.org http://www.metopera.org Edits: still not good at HN formatting, should be good now.