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Summary "The Sun Rising" by John Donne Analysis
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The best in-depth analysis and line-by-line analysis of the Sun Rising poem. Best notes for IEB matrics.
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The Sun Rising by John Donne AnalysisBusy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices,
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long;
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
She's all states, and all princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus.
, Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
Stanza 1
"Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus,": The poem
begins with a direct and forceful address to the sun, personifying it as
a bothersome character.
"Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?": The
speaker expresses annoyance at the sun's intrusion into their private
space.
"Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?": The speaker
challenges the sun's authority over human activity, particularly
lovemaking.
"Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide late school boys": The speaker
continues the insult, calling the sun a "pedantic wretch" and
suggesting more appropriate targets for its attention.
"And sour prentices with the morning hour": The speaker
expands the list of suitable targets for the sun's attention.
"Call drowsy housewives to their gossiping": The speaker
continues to enumerate potential targets for the sun's attention,
emphasizing the mundane nature of these activities.
Stanza 2
"Go tell courtly nymphs and pert gallants": The speaker continues
to suggest alternative targets for the sun's attention, this time focusing
on the upper classes.
"That they are slaves to fancy's idol, gold": The speaker implies
that the wealthy are obsessed with material possessions.
"Tell them in court it is not morning yet": The speaker asserts
that the world of courtly love and affairs is timeless, unaffected by the
physical passage of time.
"Tell them of us, and how their gold be spent": The speaker
challenges the value system of the wealthy by suggesting that their
money would be better spent on enjoying love.
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