“THE SUNNE RISING” By JOHN DONNE

 

  “THE SUNNE 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 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.

About poet ,

John Donne (1572–1631) was an English poet, cleric, and one of the most prominent figures of the metaphysical poetry movement. His work is characterized by its complex imagery, intellectual rigor, and exploration of themes such as love, death, religion, and the nature of existence.

Short Summary, 

"The Sunne Rising"  by John Donne is a celebration of love’s sovereignty over the physical world, expressed through Donne’s characteristic wit and intellectual playfulness.

The poem captures the intensity and self-contained nature of romantic love, where the lovers see themselves as the center of all existence, dismissing the outside world as inconsequential. Through the speaker’s exaggerated claims, Donne also invites readers to reflect on the nature of love and its place in the broader context of life.

The poem begins with the speaker rebuking the sun for interrupting him and his lover in bed. He calls the sun a "busy old fool" and questions why it must bother them with its "saucy, pedantic wretch" rays.

 The speaker dismisses the sun's power, claiming that love is not subject to the time dictated by the sun's movement. He even mocks the sun, suggesting that it should go bother late schoolboys or courtly workers instead of disturbing them.

 

As the poem develops the speaker continues to belittle the sun, claiming that his lover's beauty is more powerful than the sun itself. He suggests that the sun could be darkened simply by closing the eyes, rendering its light irrelevant. He further elevates his lover by stating that the entire world exists within their bed, and that their love is more significant than the geographical expanses illuminated by the sun.

At last the speaker reaches the height of his exaggeration by declaring that he and his lover are the center of the universe. He asserts that since they embody the entire world, the sun should be content to shine on them alone. The sun, he says, is both the courtly world's almanac and a mere servant to their love. In this way, the speaker claims that love transcends time, space, and even the natural world.

John Donne's poem "The Sunne Rising" is a classic example of his metaphysical poetry, characterized by its witty wordplay, inventive metaphors, and the blending of physical and spiritual themes.

Themes:

1. Love and Power: The poem emphasizes the power of love, suggesting it transcends all worldly matters, including the passage of time. The speaker's love is so powerful that it reshapes his perception of reality, making the sun’s influence seem trivial.
2. The Universe and the Microcosm: Donne uses the idea of a microcosm to explore the relationship between the lovers and the world. The lovers’ bed becomes the center of the universe, reducing the significance of everything else. This reflects the Renaissance idea that the human experience can mirror the larger workings of the cosmos.
3. Conflict between Love and Time: The poem highlights the tension between love, which is timeless and eternal, and time, which is represented by the sun. The speaker initially resents the intrusion of time into his private life, but by the end, he reinterprets the sun’s presence as a symbol of his love’s importance.