The Sun Rising

John Donne
The Sun Rising
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.
John Donne
• Donne wrote many an amorous poem in his younger days, using the
extended metaphor or conceit to explore in depth the relationship
between himself, the cosmos and love. Poems such as The Flea and
To His Mistress Going to Bed are particularly popular.
• Because of his interest in love, religion and morals and inventive use
of form and intellectual prowess, he is often known as the father of
the metaphysical poets.
• Later on in life he devoted himself to religion, eventually becoming
dean at St Paul's cathedral in London. His Holy Sonnets and other
religious verse are a counterbalance to his more erotic writings.
1572-
1631
Notes
• The Sun Rising begins with a rush of blood, a blunt telling off, as if the speaker's
space and style has been cramped. He is annoyed. To allay the self-induced tension
the speaker soon begins to compare himself with the sun, belittling the power of
that mighty star, declaring love the master of all. Inverts the hierarchy of the time.
There is an extremely complicated interpretation that includes religious awakenings
and purification, however, it is not the common interpretation of the poem.
• Tone: Starts off as affronted/ annoyed and becomes persuasive and proud.
• Structure: Adapted sonnet structure (3 stanzas -10 lines long – ABBACDCDEE)
Predominantly iambic pentameter meter.
Indents could show the movement of the sun. Also focuses the reader on
important statements throughout the poem.
Notes continued…
• Renaissance theory believes that the human body is a microcosm of
the universe.
• Themes: Love, power, authority.
• Extended metaphor: bed is the empire collapsing the world into the
bedroom because of the power of love.
Social Hierarchy
God
(Nature)

Monarchs
Nobility
Gentry
Merchants
Yeomen (Farmers/ Small Landowners)
Laborers
 Normally a positive connotation attached to happiness, new beginnings and rebirth
Double Entendre (1. sun rising; 2. Son (Christ) rising).

The Sun Rising

Sun personified and spoken
Negative connotations – to (Apostrophe).
creates irony in the title

Busy old fool, unruly sun, Suggests that it should be ruled by

something greater.
The sun is
Why dost thou thus,
being rude.
The Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Rhetorical
questions
suggest that
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
the lovers
should be
exempt form
the daily
rhythms of life
that are Stanza 1: The speaker has a go at the sun for invasion of privacy and
guided by the
sun.
declares that love isn't subject to the everyday routines, and is
certainly no slave to time.
 Rude, defiant, disrespectful Excessively concerned Negative connotation
Enjambment:
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide the speed at
Speaker has no which the sun
respect for these Late school boys and sour prentices, should leave?
people which is why
he is happy to sick Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
the sun on them.
Call country ants to harvest offices,
Love is
everlast- Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
ing
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

Love is not restricted to time and should not be governed by the sun’s appearance.
Time works differently for lovers.
 Enjambment:
far reaching
reverence of
Challenging the sun’s ego, the sun?
might and status (much likeThy beams, so reverend and strong
Donne does with Death in The
Enhances the
impact of the
Holy Sonnet). Why shouldst thou think? insult?

Speaker I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,

asserts itself
and claims But that I would not lose her sight so long;
his/her
authority After asserting dominance, the speaker chooses not to eclipse the sun by closing
over the his/her eyes because that would mean that the speaker loses sight of the lover, and
sun. that would be sacrilege in his/her eyes.

Stanza 2: Helplessly in love with his mistress/wife, the speaker

rather arrogantly belittles the sun by suggesting that his bed is the
place to be.
 East and West Indies

If her eyes have not blinded thine,

The lovers
have
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
conquered the
world with their
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
love and
ascended to
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
divine power.
Everything of
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
beauty, value
and power is
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
condensed into
their bed.
The Lover: Eyes – so bright and beautiful that they blind others
Spice – exotic and valuable
Mine (gold and gems) – beauty and value

Hyperbole of beauty
 Transforms them both into greater powers which everyone
envies and mimics, therefore they have the power,
Own line: Importance of importance and ability to command the sun (elevated himself
the lovers – they have to a godly status (Christ interpretation of The Sun Rising).
essentially become the
universe (Renaissance
ideal) through love.
Love is the most She's all states, and all princes, I,
important occupation.
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.

Stanza 3: The bed and the lovers are a microcosm of the

universe, according to the speaker, who in the end invites the sun
to become a part of the whole.
 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.

All the world can be found in the lovers’ bed They are the centre of the universe. The speaker
demands that the sun shine solely on the lovers. He is seizing everyone else's day and takes
full authority and diverting the sun. Love is the microcosm of the universe. It is above all else;
work, duty, nature and hierarchies. Love effectively turns the hierarchy of life upside down,
giving lovers power over all else.