The Sun Rising
, Contents
Contents.......................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3
Themes............................................................................................................................ 4
The Authority of Love............................................................................................. 4
Love as a microcosm of the universe.................................................................... 4
Love & Divinity....................................................................................................... 5
Poetic devices................................................................................................................. 6
Personification....................................................................................................... 6
Extended metaphor................................................................................................6
Cacophony............................................................................................................. 7
Euphony................................................................................................................. 7
Alliteration.............................................................................................................. 8
Enjambment........................................................................................................... 9
Caesura................................................................................................................. 9
Apostrophe...........................................................................................................10
Rhetorical question...............................................................................................11
Aphorism.............................................................................................................. 11
Syllogism..............................................................................................................12
Aphorismus.......................................................................................................... 12
Asyndeton............................................................................................................ 13
Diacope................................................................................................................ 13
Anaphora............................................................................................................. 13
FORM............................................................................................................................. 14
METER........................................................................................................................... 15
RHYME SCHEME.......................................................................................................... 15
Notes taken in class..................................................................................................... 16
,Introduction
John Donne
- Womaniser, hedonistic
- Jaquobean period - metaphysical movements - poet disturb/challenges reader
- *Conceit: complex metaphor/simile - need unpacking
- Explore nature of/question reality
- King James love magic/witches/history
- Reining monarch influence artistic poems
- Poet, soldier, lawyer, diplomat, member of parlaiment, cleric (church priest)
Busy 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 the Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou left’st 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 honour’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 centre is, these walls, thy sphere.
Themes
The Authority of Love
● In "The Sun Rising" by John Donne, the theme of "The authority of love" is vividly
portrayed as the speaker challenges the conventional power of the sun, asserting
the supremacy of love over all worldly and cosmic orders.
● The speaker ridicules the sun, calling it a "busy old fool" and undermining its
authority by stating that it should be ruled by a higher power, which he implies is
love. He boldly claims the power to control the sun, suggesting that he could
easily block its light simply by closing his eyes, demonstrating that the sun's
influence is insignificant compared to the power of love.
● The speaker extends this authority by ordering the sun to warm him and his lover
in bed, indicating that their love justifies redefining the sun's purpose.
● He questions why lovers should adhere to the sun's schedule, emphasizing that
love operates beyond the "rags of time"—hours, days, and months—and has its
own eternal timeline.
● By the poem's conclusion, the speaker has metaphorically reduced the entire
world to his bedroom, proclaiming it the center of all activities and demanding
that the sun prioritize its warmth for them, effectively sidelining the rest of the
world’s needs.
● This inversion of power not only places love above the sun but also suggests that
love commandeers the day, altering the rhythm of life itself to suit the lovers'
desires.
Love as a microcosm of the universe
● In John Donne's "The Sun Rising," the theme of "Love as a microcosm of the
universe" is illustrated by portraying the lovers' bed as the entire world.
