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Analyzing "Batter my heart, three-person'd God" through an Oppenheimer-ian lens

Physicist and Manhattan Project leader J. Robert Oppenheimer named the test of the first atomic bomb "Trinity." He claimed he was inspired by John Donne's poem "Batter my heart, three-person'd God," but offered little other explanation. Below is my reading of the poem and how it can be applied to Oppenheimer's life.

You can read the poem here.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God

Oppenheimer is the first-person narrator of this poem, aka the one whose heart is being battered. The three-person'd God is composed of, well, three concepts: America, the atomic bomb, and science (which in and of itself can be three-pronged into what's oft considered the most prestigious sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics). These three "persons" were the most defining forces in Oppenheimer's life.

for you / As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

The purpose of science is to knock on the door of discovery, breathe life and shine light into the unknown, and use this newfound knowledge to seek to mend our world—to make it a better place. True love is being understood, after all, and when we understand the world, we grow to love and appreciate it.

From an American prespective, the bomb also sought to mend. Its purpose was to end World War II, which it ultimately succeeded in doing. The first three verbs could also be used to describe the sound, movement, and appearance of the Trinity explosion.

Post-war American foreign policy could also be categorized as seeking to mend. Once again, from an American prespective, it was the country's role to shine democracy and freedom into the dark, communist-threatened corners of the world. To "fix" them. But we all know how that turned out.

That I may rise and stand,

The American government made Oppenheimer the head of the Manhattan Project, which, by several accounts, inflated his ego with a sense of leadership and control. As the fictionalized version of Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss says in Christopher Nolan's 2023 film Oppenheimer:

"Well, if he was based in Chicago, he worked under Szilard and Fermi, not the Cult of Oppie in Los Alamos. Robert built that damn place. He was founder, mayor, sheriff. All rolled into one."

Harnessing the extraordinary power of atomic energy also made Oppenheimer feel godlike, a Prometheus figure, as the biography title goes. Physicist and professor Philip Morrison put it bluntly:

"Oppenheimer think's he's God."

o'erthrow me, and bend / Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

Ultimately, however, the power of atomic energy won the power struggle. Oppenheimer is forever its slave, the consequences of its unleashing dictating the rest of his life. He is transformed, made into a new person when the Trinity explosion breaks, blows, and burns ahead in the horizon.

(The "me" who is made new could also the be the world, which is also forever changed by the creation of the atomic bomb).

Although I have less faith in this argument, these lines could also be applied to the Atomic Energy Commission's kangaroo court purge of Oppenheimer. After the trial, he was absolutely broken, overthrown from his position on the Commission, his influence on atomic policy. He was never quite the same afterwards; made new.

I, like an usurp'd town to another due,

The most overt interpretation of this line would be that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the usurp'd towns in question, destroyed by what were arguably war crimes. However, Los Alamos could also the be usurp'd town: it was a region sacred to Native Americans that was seized by the US government for the Manhattan Project, at Oppenheimer's reccomendation. The National Park Service explains:

"In late 1942, the U.S. government appropriated US Forest Service land and private property on the Pajarito Plateau for its secret atom bomb project. The US government subsequently built fences and established checkpoints to prevent any unauthorized entries by the public and that barred American Indians and former landowners from returning."

Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;

As will be discussed later, Oppenheimer felt more distress over the nuclear proliferation and atomic culture that rapidly developed post-war, rather than the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He labored to admit the bomb into standard military arsenals and into the world overall, but both the US and the USSR were building bomb after bomb. The proliferation was to no end; it defined 45 years of the 20th century.

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, / But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.

As the so-called father of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer should defend its existence and the actions of the US government in its proliferation. By extension, he should defend the development of the hydrogen bomb. However, Oppenheimer cannot find a logical or moral basis for defense. His criticism and campaign against the H-bomb partially leads to the Atomic Energy Commission's takedown of him.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain, / But am betroth'd unto your enemy;

The most overt interpretation of this line would be that the "you" in question is America. Oppenheimer's country would love him if he wasn't a suspected Communist; instead, he faces the wrath and persecution of the Atomic Energy Commission.

From the film:

EINSTEIN: If this is the reward [your country] offers you, then... perhaps you should turn your back on her.

OPPENHEIMER: Damnit, I happen to love this country.

EINSTEIN: Then tell [the Commission] to go to hell.

However, "you" could also be science, perhaps physics specifically. The atomic bomb is the antithesis of the purpose of science outlined above. As physicist Isidor Rabi said:

"I do not wish to make the culmination of three centuries of physics a weapon of mass destruction."

And as Oppenheimer reflected:

"I find that physics and the teaching of physics, which is my life, now seems irrelevant."

How can Oppenheimer be a servant to the sciences when he has defied them? He struggles to find passion and meaning in his field; he is now devoted to lessening the effects of its corruption.

Finally, "you" could also be the bomb. Oppenheimer hated nuclear proliferation, not the bombings during World War II. He was certainly proud of his creation, but regretted its consequences. Many believed Oppenheimer loved the bomb because of the status it gained him. Another film Lewis Strauss line:

“Oppenheimer wanted to own the atomic bomb. He wanted to be the man who moved the Earth. He talks about putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle. Well I'm here to tell you that I know J. Robert Oppenheimer, and if he could do it all over, he'd do it all the same. You know he's never once said that he regrets Hiroshima? He'd do it all over. Why? Because it made him the most important man who ever lived.”

One could say the ultimate goal of the bomb is a nuclear holocaust, the destruction of the human race by a creation of the human race. Thus, in his pursuit against proliferation, Oppenheimer is the enemy of the bomb.

Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, / Take me to you, imprison me, for I, / Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Oppenheimer can never escape the consequences of his actions. They haunt him, define him, and destroy him, whether from internal or external forces. He never shall be free as long as the bomb enthralls him. He tries to avenge his sin by advocating against proliferation and the H-bomb, but his influence is plowed over by the Atomic Energy Commission. This strips him of his ability to work his way out of purgatory. He is a permanent prisoner to the bomb, as all humans are as long as we live under its threat.

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Oppenheimer is ultimately destroyed by his country and the consequences of his actions. They ravish him and leave him chained to the rock, à la Prometheus.

Fin.

To reward yourself for making it this far, I recommend checking out Gerald Finley's performance of "Batter my heart" from John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic.

Thanks for reading!

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Disgraceful.

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