Literary Devices in 

Easter Wings 
Herbert makes use of several literary devices in ‘Easter Wings’. These include
but are not limited to alliteration, assonance, and enjambment. The latter,
enjambment, is seen through the transitions between lines. The moments in
which the poet does not use end-punctuation are most commonly enjambed.
For example, the transitions between lines four, five, six, and seven. 
Assonance is the use and reuse of the same vowel sound within words that are
next to one another or close together. For instance, the “i” vowel sound in the
last lines of the poem with words such as “I,” “imp,” “thine,” and “flight”.
Alliteration is a similar device.  It occurs when words are used in succession, or
at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example,
“more” and “more” in line three of the first stanza and “fall,” “further,” and “flight”
in line ten of the first stanza. 

Stanza One 
Lines 1-6 
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, 
Though foolishly he lost the same, 
Decaying more and more, 
Till he became 
Most poore: 
With thee 
In the first stanza of ‘Easter Wings,’ the speaker begins by addressing the
Christian God as “Lord”. This god created “man in wealth and store”. Adam, the
first man, was created with everything he could’ve ever needed. He had that
which should’ve made him happy—food, shelter, comfort. Without stating it
explicitly, Herbert alludes to the Fall in the next lines. He does not go into detail
about Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. Instead, he goes straight to the
“foolishness” of humankind and the loss of everything that God created for
them. Things decayed “more and more” until “man” became “poore”.
As the lines shrink, so does the happy and hopeful imagery. The darkest lines of
the poem are the shortest. Then, as they expand, things become cheery once
more. 
 

Lines 7-10 
   O let me rise 
As larks, harmoniously, 
And sing this day thy victories: 
Then shall the fall further the flight in me. 
In the second half of this stanza, the speaker brings themselves into the poem.
He addresses God and asks that he be allowed to “rise” as a “lark”.
This simile compares the speaker to a bird that is elevated above the
foolishness of humankind. The speaker would like to rise above Adam’s
choices. 
It is also at this point in the poem that the speaker introduces the theme of
Easter. It is with “thee” that he wants to rise. This is an allusion to the holiday
traditionally celebrated to honor Christ rising from the dead. In the last lines of
the stanza, he asks that he be allowed to “sing” of victories and rise as far as
the fall took mankind down. 
 

Stanza Two 
My tender age in sorrow did beginne 
And still with sicknesses and shame. 
Thou didst so punish sinne, 
That I became 
Most thinne. 
With thee 
Let me combine, 
And feel thy victorie: 
For, if I imp my wing on thine, 
Affliction shall advance the flight in me. 
In the second stanza of ‘Easter Wings,’  the speaker continues to use first-
personpronouns. He says that he was born into “sorrow” because of the first
man and his choices. He is still impacted by what Adam and Eve did. The lines
shrink and the imagery becomes more depressing. He speaks about the
darkness of his own life, the sickness, and the sin. All of this feels inescapable
until the lines start to grow again.
The poem turns around in the center of the second stanza by emphasizing how
“With thee,” or with God, the speaker is going to rise. The speaker knows that he
needs God’s help to fly. So he’s going to “imp,” or support himself with the
feathers from God’s wings. This is how the speaker intends to rise above the sin
that’s at the root of the human race.

Batter my Heart (Holy Sonnet 14)

Analysis
Batter my heart, three-personed 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 usurped town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
The octet of Batter my Heart depicts the lyrical voice’s demands towards God.
The poem starts with the lyrical voice asking the “three-personed God” (God,
Jesus, and the Holy Ghost) to attack his/heart, as it were gates belonging to a
fortress (“batter” comes from “battering ram” the element used in medieval
times to break down the door of a fortress). The lyrical voice asks for this, as
previously God had “knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend”. This follows the
scriptural idea that God “knocks” on a person’s door and he/she must let him in.
Nevertheless, this isn’t working for the lyrical voice, as he/she wants to be taken
by God’s force: “That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend/Your force
to break, blow, burn”. Notice the alliteration on line 4 and the emphasis on these
strong and violent verbs. The lyrical voice wants to go through all of this
because he/she wants to be made “new”. His/her soul is probably badly
damaged, and, in order to take all the sin out of it, it must be recreated.
The lyrical voice is, again, compared with a town; a town that is “usurped”.
He/she wants to let God in, but he/she has been unsuccessful: “Labour to admit
you, but Oh, to no end”. The lyrical voice is having trouble showing his/her faith
because his/her thoughts, reason, have turned on God (“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 betrothed 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.
The sestet presets the volta, turn, and the tone of the poem shifts. The lyrical
voice gets more sentimental and calm. The simile of the fortress ends, and the
lyrical voice talks about his/ her feelings towards God: “Yet dearly I love you,
and would be loved fain”. Nevertheless, the lyrical voice feels engaged to Satan,
“But am betrothed unto your enemy”, and asks God to take him out of their
arrangement, “Divorce me, untie or break that knot again”. The word “again”
makes direct reference toGenesis and the fall of men. Once again, the lyrical
voice asks God to take him/her: “Take me to you, imprison me, for I,/Except you
enthrall me, never shall be free,/Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me”. Notice
the emphasis and the intensity in the lyrical voice’s wish. He/she asks to be
taken over by using violent verbs, such as “imprision” and “ravish”. These final
lines depict the paradox of the faith.