“The Sun Rising”

by John Donne (1572 – 1631)

John Donne (1572 – 1631)

Donne was a poet, scholar,

soldier, lawyer, diplomat,
Member of Parliament and
cleric.
He wrote witty, sensual and
satirical verse about love,
sex, spirituality and the
shortcomings of English
society.
He is known for the phrases
“no man is an island” and
“for whom the bell tolls”.

2
Metaphysical Poetry
Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality and it
asks questions about how we perceive and experience
the world.
Metaphysical poetry was a deliberate reaction to the
smoothness and conventionality of Elizabethan verse.
It rejected the strict conventions and stylistic and
structural principles of Elizabethan verse where
necessary to disturb, startle or challenge their readers.
This type of poetry goes beyond the worldly, physical
or common.

3
Metaphysical Poetry (cont)

It examines the nature of perception and

experience.
It is intellectual and explores the spiritual world.
Metaphysical poetry began during the Renaissance
and Donne is its most prominent poet.
Donne’s metaphysical poetry is philosophical.
His primary subjects were love, religion, God,
beauty and faith.

4
Metaphysical Conceits
From the Latin term for “concept”, a poetic conceit is often
an unconventional, logically complex, or surprising
metaphor whose delights are more intellectual than sensual.
Less conventional, more esoteric associations characterise
the metaphysical conceit. They fuse the sensory and the
abstract, and rely on the element of surprise and
unlikeliness to hold the reader’s attention.
In “The Sun Rising”, the speaker treats the sun like a guest
in his house (a person).
He then reverses the conceit by giving himself – a person –
the powers of the sun.

5
Metaphysical Conceits (cont)
The speaker could “eclipse” the sun, but he doesn’t because
this would prevent him from seeing his lover.
Everything and everyone of importance is in the speaker’s bed.
Donne relied on Renaissance science and technology to create
his conceits. Scientists at the time were arguing about whether
the sun revolved around Earth or vice versa.
Donne’s interest in scientific controversy gave him metaphors
for his poems. The same interest helps give “The Sun Rising”
its emotional force: nobody knows if the sun goes around the
Earth, or vice versa, the last line implies, but I’m quite certain
my life revolves around yours.”

6
Aubade
A love poem about lovers who awaken at dawn
and have to bid each other farewell.
In “The Sun Rising”, the lovers do not need to go
anywhere because their love has placed them
where they belong and everything must re-orient
itself around them.
Donne could be parodying the aubade.

7
The Title
The sun is “rising”, but the speaker is also
referring to rising from his bed.
The speaker instructs the sun to worship him so
he may be the second “sun rising”.

8
Overview
The poem challenges / subverts the idea that the sun is
all-powerful and the majestic centre of the universe.
The speaker argues that his feelings for his lover are
more important than the sun and its duties and the
mundane busyness of the outside world.
The lovers are not insignificant in comparison to the
universe. In fact, their bed is the centre of the universe.
Donne emphasises the subjective (personal) experience
of being alive over the objective (external) experience.

9
 captures the feeling of
unwise / disorderly / disruptive / not being rudely awoken
imprudent / amenable to discipline or and captures the
silly control reader’s attention.
 The speaker robs the
Busy old fool, unruly Sun, sun of authority and is
condescending: he
suggests that the sun
does not know what it is
doing and needs
Why dost thou thus, guidance.
 The speaker and his
lover are more powerful
than the sun.
Through windows and through curtains call on us?
process of moving /
schedules

Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?

10
The sun is negatively personified. Apostrophe is also used.
Therefore, the sun cannot reply to the speaker. Thus, the speaker can
lecture the sun without any interruption. The speaker is annoyed!
Caesura which
Busy old fool, unruly Sun, emphasises “fool”.
“thou” is informal which
suggests that the sun is
inferior to the speaker and
Why dost thou thus, his lover, and owes them
obedience and respect.

Rhetorical questions:
Through windows and through curtains call on
 Tus?
he first sees the speaker
demanding why the sun insists on
shining through the curtains.
 The second suggests that the
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run? speaker wants to be exempt /
excluded from the natural rhythms
of the sun.
 He and his lover are special and
seemingly inhabit a world different
from everyday life.
11
 despicable / contemptible / pitiful
cheeky / person
bold / lively /  The speaker
scold
rude Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide suggests that the
excessively concerned sun has some
with rules / inflexible authority, but not
over the lover (or
Late school-boys, andresentful
sour ’prentices,
/
love).
 He is reversing the
sulky sun’s power.
 He is also elevating
himself above kings
Go tell court-huntsmen that the King will ride, / political rulers.
lowly farm  The four groups of
workers
people the speaker
mentions are
Call country ants to harvest offices; socially not
powerful. This
suggests that the
speaker wants to
portray the sun as
trivial and its duties
insignificant. 12
The speaker
moves away
from rhetorical
questions and
Caesura which
directly gives Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide emphasises “wretch”.
the sun orders.
Imperatives
are issued.
Late school-boys, and sour ’prentices,

Go tell court-huntsmen that the King will ride,

Alliteration (hard
consonants) which makes
Call country ants to harvest offices; it seem that the speaker is
spitting these words out:
contemptuous tone.

13
 The speaker answers the rhetorical Long vowels and smooth l’s
question in line 4: love is superior to and r’s which make love sound
seasons, climates and time. soft and inviting.
Caesura which
emphasises “love”
Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, and is linked to the
Metaphor: Time is compared to tattered poem’s themes.
pieces of cloth.

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

Suggests that love is everlasting, cannot decay and not
subject to “normal” time: time (including the rising and
setting of the sun) works differently for lovers and their
love cannot be controlled by the sun.

Definite / convincing tone and an aphorism

(short statement about how the world works that is
linked to common sense) which means that the
speaker does not need to explain himself.

14
 Initially the speaker seems to
worthy of respect, gratitude and flatter the sun, but the
worship enjambment upends this. The
speaker becomes
Rhetorical persuasive.
question demands
Thy beams, so reverend and strong why the sun is so full of self-
importance.
The speaker could simply blink
and the sun would disappear, but
Why shouldst thou think? he does not want to because he
obscur then would not be able to look at
e his lover. This would cause him
anguish – he obviously has intense
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, feelings for his lover. Again, the
speaker is positioning himself to
be more
The powerful
speaker seesthan the as
himself sun.
“divine” and suggests that
But that I would not lose her sight so long: waking up next to his lover
makes him feel like a god. He
Hyperbole is is also maintaining that he
used could cause an eclipse. The
tone is arrogant / boasting.

15
The speaker is Beginning of an
comparing his extended
lover to a metaphor. The
bright light or bedroom is compared
star. Her eyes to the entire
could blind the If her eyes have not blinded thine, universe.
sun which The lover is
again compared to
diminishes the Europe’s richest
sun. it also Look, and tomorrow late tell me, colonies and the
reinforces the The colonised West and speaker is all the
speaker’s East Indies world’s kings. The
intense feelings lover then becomes
for his lover.
Whether both the Indias of spice and mine “all States” and the
speaker “all Princes”.
The speaker is
emotionally satisfied
Be where thou left’st them, or lie here with me. and happy. Can also
be hyperbole.
The speaker claims that imperial wealth and power lie in
his lover’s body.

16
 The power of kings is incorporated in the
speaker’s body.

Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,

The homophones “hear” and “here”
create balance and a pleasant sound.

And thou shalt hear, ‘AllThe

here
bed in
hasone bedthe
replaced lay.’
universe. The speaker and his
lover constitute their own world
and are complete.

17
  The world does not exist
beyond the lovers’ bed.
countries  Note the line begins with
“she” and ends in “I” and is
connected by “and”. It is a
She's all States, and all Princes I; perfectly balanced line.
 It is only their relationship
that matters.
 They are the universe.
Nothing else is.  Their passion is intense.
pretend to be us (the speaker and his lover are the  The speaker inflates his own
only holders of true power) importance and his orders to
the sun are justified, not
Princes do but play us; compared to this, “unruly”.
(cheap)
imitation An attempt to convert base metals into
gold or find a universal elixir (futile
All honour's mimic; all wealth alchemy. attempt to gain riches). The speaker is
asserting that their love makes them the
only wealthy people in the world, and
their love is true honour and wealth.

18
 Caesura which emphasises “states”
and is linked to the poem’s themes..
Metaphor: his lover is “all
states” and the speaker is “all
She's all States, and all Princes I; princes”.

Single line statement which is emphatic and may

seem to be threatening the sun: do not deny the
Nothing else is. lovers’ importance and power.

Princes do but play us; compared to this,Alliteration of soft and open

“w” which sounds warm, natural
and inviting begins. The speaker is
using this as a persuasive
technique: he is “softening” his
All honour's mimic; all wealth alchemy. demanding and contemptuous
tone.
In addition, his proposal to the sun
that follows becomes more
palatable.

19
  The sun cannot be as
happy as the lovers
because it is a single unit
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we, while they make up a
fits in this whole.
room  The sun should be happy
to have this new job.
In that the world's contracted thus; However, it used to order
the world to rise. It now
has to obey the speaker.

Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be

Towarm the world, that's done in warming us.

The speaker orders the sun to warm the lovers’ bed / to serve them.
 The lovers have more authority than the sun.
 The speaker insists that love is the most important occupation which makes the bed a
daytime workplace.
 The sun needs to abandon its other duties and make the “work” of the bedroom
possible.

20
 The speaker suggests that
Thou, Sun, art half as happy as we, the sun is too old to work: the
speaker may seem to be
concerned, but it is a veiled
insult. The speaker is being
In that the world's contracted thus; condescending / patronising.
“Thine” and “thy” are
informal which again
suggests that the sun is
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be inferior.
Some critics claim that the
speaker does indeed pity the
sun and that the mood
To warm the world, that's done in warming us. becomes softer
The speaker transforms himself into the centre of the universe:
love is so grand that the universe exists within the two lover’s
relationship. Obviously, this reordering of the natural is impossible,
but love grants the speaker this power.

21
You (the sun) are old and your job should be as easy as possible. Your
job is to keep the world warm. Therefore, make your job easy and keep
only us warm because we are the world (the “world’s contracted
thus”). In addition, you are subordinate to “us”. Therefore, you must
obey us.

Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;

outside boundaries of the solar
system

This may startle the

This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere. reader because the
The speaker does not seize the day by getting out of bed – he is room is rectangular
seizing everybody else’s day for himself and putting the world’s and a sphere is round.
productivity on hold. The completion of the extended This suggests another
metaphor: the bed is the universe. The lovers are the solar conceit.
system around which the sun must revolve. However, the truth
is that the sun is all-powerful and majestic and Donne may be
subverting the speaker.

22
Form
• Three stanzas of 10 lines each
• Irregular line length
• Regular rhyme scheme (ABBACDCDEE)
• First four lines build up the argument.
• Second four lines consolidate the argument.
• The couplet concludes the argument.
• Reminiscent of the sonnet form.

23
Donne’s voice
• The power of Donne’s poetic voice is
characterised by his dramatic monologue and
intensified by his use of the present tense.
• The present tense allows the reader to
experience the progressive argument of the
speaker’s claims and argument.
• It also contributes to the immediacy of the
moment.

24
Bibliography
• https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/john-donne/the-sun-risi
ng
• Macrat IEB Poetry Pack 2022ff
• https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-The-
Sun-Rising-by-John-Donne
• https://literaryenglish.com/summary-and-analysis-of-the-
sun-rising-by-john-donne/
• https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/68429/john-do
nne-the-sun-rising
• https://www.enotes.com//topics/sun-rising/in-depth
• The English Experience Complete Poetry Resource (7th 25