The Sun Rising

poet

John Donne

central extended metaphor

The bed is the microcosm of the world

Donne uses Apostrophe to address...

the sun directly: 'Busy old fool', 'thou', 'thy'.

'The Sun Rising'

Present participle: reader is invited to share this intimate moment with the lovers.

Central extended metaphor: the lovers' bed is a microcosm of the world

Aubade: old poetic genre of lament at dawn (think Romeo and Juliet) - speaker does not lament, but fights and brags

Aubade

a love poem set at dawn which bids farewell to the beloved

Stanza 1: "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"

Apostrophe

Tone: impudent disrespect

Paradox: the sun is not unruly - it moves in a set pattern & governs our lives - however, the lovers are exempt from this rule, therefore the sun is interfering with their lives

Repetition: the lovers are being impeded & interrupted everywhere - even when trying to block out the sun with curtains

Tone: challenging; Attitude: rebellious

"lovers' seasons" should be exempt from the mundane & should not have to be dictated to by the rising & setting of the sun - lovers are superior & transcend time

Diction: 'saucy' - disrespectful; 'pedantic' - boring & rigid →no understanding of love/ spontaneity

Stanza 1: "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."

Connotation: associates Sun with children & grumpy workers, lowly members of the King's court, farmers & labourers - demeaning - unlike lovers, they have to obey the rules of time

Tone: superior/ mocking

Metaphor: ants = insignificant & without individuality - obedient

Connotations: harvest linked to seasons/ time/ Sun

Contrast to line 8: lovers are under no authority; love is timeless & follows its own rules

Conceit: the lovers' bed is the centre of the universe - not the sun - and they dictate their own time

Metaphor: rags = trivial & insignificant Tone: disrespectful

Stanza 2: "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,"

Sarcasm: mocking - the sun will never be strong enough/ respected enough to influence the lovers' time/ actions

Alliteration (consonance): "cl"

Hyperbole & bravado: beloved is far more powerful than the sun; stresses intensity of love & adds to light-hearted tone

Stanza 2: "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."

Takes authority over the Sun & time

East Indies (spice) & West Indies (precious metals)

His love is the embodiment of all the riches & treasures of the world - actually eclipses them all

Continuation of conceit: lovers = the centre of the universe - aspects of royalty, wealth & power

Stanza 3: "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,"

They are their own world

Tone of supreme confidence

Their love is the only reality - he is aware of a world outside (the "windows" and the "curtains") but it is irrelevant and belongs to the Sun & the "rags of time"

The outside world is a poor imitation of their world

The only true value lies in their room/ bed/ lovers' universe

Attitude has softened; a sense of pity

"half as happy" - has no lover; is incomplete

Stanza 3: "In that 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"

The only world that matters is theirs

The Sun is old and cannot appreciate the energy of young people in love

Argument has come full circle - the speaker has accepted the sun's function (but not its authority)

They (not the sun or the earth) are the centre of the universe.

Structure

Irregular meter

The longest lines are at the end of the three stanzas and the rhyme never varies—each stanza runs ABBACDCDEE

Donne's poems were known to be metaphysical with jagged rhythms, dramatic monologues, playful intelligence, and startling images

The poem personifies the sun

Chide

to scold or rebuke

Saucy

Sexually suggestive

Pedantic

Concerned with minor details

Unruly

Disruptive

(Ap) prentices

Someone who works with an expert

Eclipse

Obscure the light

Mimic

to imitate / A pretense

Alchemy

A mere product of science (base materials)

Wretch

an unfortunate or unhappy person /scoundrel