John Donne: Sunne Rising
Hello friends, today we are going to talk about John Donne, another important work “Sunne Rising” which means “Rising of the Sun” and friends you must think that the spelling of the sun is wrong but no at that time this spelling was prevalent and this is an example of Archaic English (Old Form of English Language). John Donne is not praising the sun in this poem. In fact, he is taunting the sun by saying why do you come every day to bother me when I'm sleeping in my room with my beloved.
Opening lines:-
Busy old fool, unruly son,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Closing lines:-
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.
Section1: First Stanza
So, moving into the first stanza, Donne is calling the sun an old fool and uncontrollable. He's saying why are you like this? Why do you wake us through the windows and curtains? He is calling the Sun rude, useless and annoying. Basically, Donne is insulting the Sun and he is asking the Sun to go and annoy lead schoolboys and irritated people who work in the court. Donne is telling the Sun to go wake up the Huntsmen so that they can take the king for a hunt. Go wake up the farmers for harvesting, but don't disturb the poet when he's sleeping with his beloved. He says that love knows no season, no climate. Neither it knows or is governed by hours, days or month.
Section2: Second Stanza
Now friends in the second stanza Donne is questioning Sun and asks why do you think that your rays are so grand and strong? I can wink and it will pull an eclipse on you, or the clouds will come and hide your race. But I won't do it because I cannot lose the sight of my beloved for so long. So, friends, if an eclipse comes, it will get dark and the poet will not be able to see his beloved. He even goes on to say that his beloved is soo beautiful that her eyes will blind the Sun, her beauty will blind the sun. So Donne, says Sun, come late tomorrow and let me know if the spices of East and West Indies and their mines are still where they were yesterday, or they with me in my bed. Basically, the poet is saying that his beloved is so magnificent that she represents the entire world. He's implying that the entire world is with him when he is with his lover. He's such a delusional lover I would say. I mean he goes beyond exaggerating whenever it comes to any poems with love as a theme, I think.
Section3: Third Stanza
In the third stanza, Donne says that his beloved is all the states in the world, and he himself is a Prince of those states. Now Donne will try to explain how he and his beloved represent the entire world. Donne is saying all the wealth and honor are worthless. He says all the Princess copy them and the poet goes on to say that the Sun is half as happy as us in this world that we have squeezed in our little room. He then talks to the Sun saying that now that you're old and your age is demanding you to relax, but you have duties of warming the world but those duties can be fulfilled by warming us. Now why is Donne saying that, because he is implying that he and his beloved represent the world. Shine on us, and that would imply that you're shining everywhere. Our bed will be your center, and these walls will be your axis or your universe where you can freely revolve and move. So that's how the poem ends. Section4:
Critical Analysis
Now some critical analysis. The poet is trying to bend the rules of the universe rather than allowing the son to decide when he should wake up and sleep, he's saying that his love for his beloved gives him the freedom to stay in the bed with her all day long next time and again, he's trying to imply that he and his lover represent the whole world. When he says that, come tomorrow and check if the spices of East and West Indies and the mines are there in the bed with us or when he says that you will find all the rulers in the bed with us, or when he says that you can treat our bed as your access and revolve around us. So he's implying that he and his lover represent the whole world. The poet is soo much in love that all the worldly things would appeal to him, and he says that honor and wealth are worthless.