The sun rising' by John Donne is a Renaissance poem. It was published in 1633 after his death but the precise date when the poem was written is not known. ‘The sun rising' consists of thirty lines which are divided into three stanzas. Donne is known for using imaginative writing , exaggerations and for being a metaphysical poet. The characteristics of metaphysical poetry are; witty humour, irony, the use of paradoxes and play with words. Themes such as love, geography and cosmology, romance and man's relationship with God, were often used by metaphysical poets. Bennet (1953) describes metaphysical poetry as poetry where ‘emotions are shaped and expressed by logical reasoning, and both sound and picture are subservient to this end. Words consecrated to poetry are avoided […] they prefer words in everyday use […] they are soberly engaged in commerce or in scientific speculation' (Bennet, 1953: 9). Whether this poem belongs to the metaphysical period of Donne will be investigated in this essay by analysis of the stanzas.
In the first stanza gives the impression that Donne is agitated by the sun. The poem starts with a personification of the sun. Donne expresses that the sun is disturbing ‘us' by which he refers to two lovers. When he continues, he asks the sun to go away and to disturb others such as school-boys and the huntsman. The reader learns here that the poem will actually be a message from the poet and his lover to the sun in other words the theme is revealed as a love poem. According to Bennet (1953), the notion of the ‘sun' is important for Donne's poetry. The sun is a circle, such as spheres. Bennet explains that they can be seen as symbols for infinity in love (Bennet, 1953:40). The theme of love is perfectly described by Bennet and it certainly can be related to metaphysical poetry. By referring to circular objects such as the sun, the author refers to the metaphysical theme of love in a very imaginative and thoughtful manner.
[...] As metaphysical poets were concerned with geography and cosmology it is plausible that Donne would write about this matter. Next to this, it can be maintained that Donne uses another metaphor in the last stanza. He compares the bed and the bedroom to another world, the world of lovers. The metaphor is very elaborated and worked upon. Donne does not mention the metaphor explicitly but the reader really needs to think about it while reading the last stanza where he implicitly refers to the bedroom and the lovers in their imaginative love world. [...]
[...] Since the couple is the world, the sun's duty is fulfilled and it does not need to stay longer. Here, other themes of metaphysical poetry, ‘geology' and ‘cosmology', are being referred to. Donne's interest in geology is made clear by making a distinction between two worlds, the actual world and the world of lovers to which he refers as a ‘sphere'. Roston (1974) yet links these lines to man's relation with God and creation of man. According to Roston (1974) line twenty-eight refers to the creation of the world as depicted in Genesis and all this again in a witty style. [...]
[...] Roston(1974) explains that lover challenges the sun on its next journey around the earth to search for anything worthy of comparison to their supreme love' (Roston, 1974:15). This is especially remarkable in the last part of this stanza. The lover tells the sun to go visit faraway countries such as India or find the kings of the world but the sun can also stay because the whole world lies in bed with the lovers. In other words, the couple is the most powerful of all because everyone lives in their love world. [...]
[...] In which Period was The Sun Rising by John Donne written? sun rising' by John Donne is a Renaissance poem. It was published in 1633 after his death but the precise date when the poem was written is not known. sun rising' consists of thirty lines which are divided into three stanzas. Donne is known for using imaginative writing , exaggerations and for being a metaphysical poet. The characteristics of metaphysical poetry are; witty humour, irony, the use of paradoxes and play with words. [...]
[...] - Otto, Eric. Rhetoric's Inherent Contradictions: John Donne's "The Sun Rising". Florida Gulf Coast University. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
