The Sun Rising
By: John Donne
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 to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' 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 center is, these walls thy sphere.
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 to-morrow late tell me,
Whether both th' 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 center is, these walls thy sphere.
Introduction:
Ø The Sun Rising
Ø Was written by John Donne
Ø An example of Lyric poetry about two lovers
Ø The poem has 3 stanza’s – each of which have 10 lines each
Ø The poem describes a love relationship between a man and women – this is a dramatic poem where the speaker and his lover are in bed together – the reader can sense this as it says "all here in one bed lay"
Anthropomorphism:
Ø “Busy old fool, unruly Sun, Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?”
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us?”
Ø The speaker personifies the sun and is speaking to it as if it is a person throughout the whole poem
Ø Off the bat, the speaker is criticizing the sun, calling it a fool as the sunlight shone through the windows in the morning, wakening them.
Ø The sun is like the antagonist
Ø He then instructs for the sun to go away
Ø As he believes that his life together with her is complete only during the night
Ø So the sun is being a nuisance and ignorant for disturbing their love
Language:
Ø The language through John Donne’s poem is very serene and affectionate
Ø The descriptions are simple yet direct
Ø Dramatic and unexpected
Ø The message is easily conveyed
Ø The quote “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” implies the concept of metaphysical love
Ø This means that he was in more love with the fact that he had someone to care for, look after, deal with and so forth, like the sate of being in love rather than the lady herself and her characteristics/ qualities
Imagery:
Ø “Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime, nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time” – so, this phrase represents time passing and proves that there is no limitation to love. From this, the reader may imagine how great their bond was as “Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we,” which was another example of imagery written by John Donne.
Ø The speaker is comparing his happiness while in bed to how the sun would feel, if he were an actual person
Mood:
Ø The mood of the poem ‘Sun Rising’ does alter slightly from the beginning of the text until the end
Ø In the beginning, the speaker seemed annoyed, demanding and hesitant towards the sun as she disturbed his progression of love
Ø The line “Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide” refers to when the speaker forcefully initiated for the sun to go hide, to go away and leave them alone. Here, John Donne is scolding or chastising the sun
Ø However, towards the very end of the poem, the mood is slightly altered as quoted “Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere”
Ø From this phrase, one can tell that the speaker is taking sympathizing towards the sun, saying like “oh no, it’s okay, I’m sorry, come shine your light.” In other words, he feels bad that he has scolded the sun too much
Rhetoric/ Oxymoron:
Ø Two main literary devices used are rhetorical questions and oxymoron’s
Ø A rhetorical question for example, “Why shouldst thou think?” is used rhetorically as the speaker is asking a personified sun if allowing sun rays through a window is the thoughtful or right thing to do, he is questioning whether the disturbance of love is correct.
Ø So the oxymoron is : “Saucy pedantic wretch”
Ø An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite words or ideas are used to convey the same message, as if in agreement
o ‘Saucy’ suggests lively and cheeky
o Whereas ‘pedantic’ suggests precise and rather boring.
Ø This oxymoron was used when the speaker scolded the sun
Ø Using an oxymoron gives emphasis on the dramatic and exaggerated language used throughout the entire poem
Rhyme Scheme:
Ø Lastly, is the rhyme scheme, which is ABBACDCDEE
Ø This means that both of the two lines ‘A’ rhyme, as do ‘B, C, D and E’
Ø The rhyme scheme through the poem isn’t the prominent device that is recognized
Conclusion:
Ø ‘Sun Rising’ is an example of lyric poetry
Ø Written by John Donne
Ø Used anthropomorphism, imagery, rhetorical devices, oxymoron’s and so forth to convey the main idea in the poem
Ø Which was about the annoyance of the sun while lovers are in bed
