thesunrising

= =

**"The Sun 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 to-morrow late tell me, Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine Be where thou left'st 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 honour'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 was born in London in 1572. He attended Oxford University, and then Cambridge for a total of six years. He became a priest, and soon after, a Royal Chaplain. His sermons were good, but his poetry was better, gaining him a loyal following. His wife Anne Moore is the most important person in his life’s history. He married her secretly against the wishes of her uncle, who was Donne's boss at the time and even temporarily imprisoned Donne temporarily. Anne Moore was such an important figure in Donne’s life that more should be written about her, but unfortunately, we do not know much more about her. We do know that Anne became John’s poetic inspiration during the period of his love poems, including //The Rising Sun//. Before he married her, he was rather wild, despite being a priest, but with her in his life he spoke of gentler, maybe "true" love, and settled down. Her death, giving birth for the twelfth time, also influenced him heavily. He never remarried, though it was commonly done back then. After her death, he wrote sadder poems (and the Holy Sonnets), and in the last few years of his life, he wrote poems obsessed with death. He died in 1631, surrounded by eight of his and Anne’s children.
 * BRIEF HISTORY OF POEM AND POET:** [[image:http://www.notablebiographies.com/images/uewb_04_img0243.jpg align="right" caption="John Donne"]][|John Donne]

 1st stanza: Sun, why do you disturb us inside our own home? Are you trying to ruin our love? Do your job and wake everyone up, but don't try to mess with us. Love won't be bothered by your tricks of time, whether they be time of day, or the time of year.
 * PARAPHRASE OF POEM:**

2nd stanza: Why do you think you're so powerful? I could out-do you at any moment, but to do so would mean leaving my love, which I can't bring myself to do. If her beauty hasn't already blinded you, look at her. You see how beautiful she is? Her and every other commonly important thing in this world, they are all in my house - my room - my bed, in fact. You shine out there, where nothing important ever is.

3rd stanza: Love is an honor greater than any earthly title; nothing you can do, say, or have will equal it. As such, the world revolves around our love, not your light, and so you should revolve around us too; keep us warm and fight away the night.


 * DESCRIPTION OF POETIC STRUCTURE:**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The form of "The Sun Rising" by John Donne is quite complex and lends itself to the overall appeal of the poem. Easy to spot in the poem is the fact that the three stanzas that compose the poem are each 10 lines long. When the poem is looked at in more detail, it can be seen that the stress pattern of the work is 4255445555. This means that the first, fifth, and sixth lines are in iambic tetrameter, the second line is in dimeter, and the remaining lines, three, four, and seven through ten are versed in iambic pentameter, the language of Shakespeare. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABBACDCDEE. THe work has a relatively complex rhyme scheme and its complexity creates an interesting vibe to the poem. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">
 * DESCRIPTION OF POETIC DEVICES USED:**

The Sun Rising includes many poetic devices and tools that help enhance it. Donne uses hyperbole, apostrophe, imagery, personification, and aubade. He uses hyperbole to over-exaggerate his love affair. He claims that his love affair is so great that kings and rulers try to copy it and that it is more important than the sun. Apostrophe, another literary device, is used when an author addresses an inanimate object. In the poem Donne speaks to the sun and addresses him in various ways, he calls the sun a "busy old fool" and a "saucy pedantic wretch". Imagery is a device in which the speaker compares something to various things and paints a picture in one's head. In the poem the speaker compares the sun to "busy old fools" and "saucy pedantic wretches". He also describes the sun as "unruly". Personification is a device where the author takes an inanimate object and addresses it as human. This is what the author does with the sun in the first stanza of the poem, when he says "why dost thou thus, through windows, and through curtains, call on us?" This line makes it seem as if the sun is not a thing, but a fellow person that the author is annoyed with. The poem also includes aubade, which is a literary device in which the speaker complains about the arrival of a new day because he has to part with his lover. This is the reason behind the poem, the author tells the sun not to rise because he doesn't want to leave his lover. - the speaker claims that his love affair is so complicated that kings and rulers attempt to copy it - the speaker addresses the sun, which is an inanimate object - he has various names for the sun like "busy old fool" and "saucy pedantic wretch" - the speaker compares the sun to various things, leaving a picture in one's mind - the speaker complains about the arrival of a new day because he has to leave his lover - the author takes an object and addresses it as human (In this poem, he does this with the sun in the first stanza.)
 * hyperbole
 * apostrophe
 * imagery
 * aubade
 * personification

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">
 * ANALYSIS OF POEM AND MEANING:**

"The Sun Rising" by John Donne is written about his wife and expresses Donne's views on love and the effect that time has on it. The title gives a short glance of what the poem will be about. The poem is about the sun rising and bothering him and his wife. In the first stanza, he expresses his concern over the sun which is a metaphor for "the busy old fool" who will steal the love of his wife from him. Maybe Donne isn't talking about the sun, but using it as a metaphor to refer to somone else who is trying to steal his wife from him. This has some ties to Donne's life. Donne was a private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Keeper of the Great Seal. His secret marriage to Egerton's niece, Anne Moore, in 1601 led to his dismissal and even a brief imprisonment. The "sun" may have been referring to Egerton's efforts to separate Moore and Donne. Donne also speaks about how everyone is constantly busy because "the seasons constantly run". He claims that love knows no time an he says that lovers don't need to obey time because it doesn't change, no matter what season or time. In love, hours, days, and minutes, are unimportant and silly measures. Donne is saying that love has no bounds, which may be referring to his marriage with Anne Moore.

Donne believes that he can "eclipse and cloud them (the sun's beams) with a wink", this shows his belief that love is strong and because he's in love, he can do anything. This also includes his idea that his lover is the most beautiful thing and her beauty can even outshine the sun. This shows all of the love and devotion Donne has for his wife. He thinks that everything he needs is in his bedroom and that he doesn't need the sun and the world beyond. Essentially, Donne believes that the world is in his bedroom. Everything and everyone that are important are in his bed, when he says that all the kings and princes "here in one bed lay" Donne means that they are also in love and so they are "with" the poet. Therefore, the sun is shining on things that are useless and unnecessary because everyone important is in love like him. In truth, only his wife is in his bed, but to him, she is as important as the whole world. The poem shows how lovers tend to act with copious amounts of arrogance and haughtiness.

At this time, scientists and astronomers were arguing if the sun went around the earth or if the earth went around the sun. John Donne's love of astronomy and the sciences fueled his use of metaphor in his poems. He talks about how him and his wife complete the earth, and therefore the sun revolves around them. In the second stanza he refers to extreme wealth and compares his love to it and in the third stanza he says that wealth is true but alchemy is false: there is a thin line between what is real and what is false.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Brown, Paula. "Poetic Forms." __The People's Poet__. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www.thepeoplespoet.com/pages/poeticforms.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> "Poetic Forms." __About__. 2007. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://poetry.about.com/od/ poeticforms/Poetic_Forms.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> "Glossary of Poetic Terms." __Online Learning Center__. 2002. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/ 0072405228/student_view0/poetic_glossary.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Littauer, Joel Sommer. "Literary Terms A-E." __Dictionary of Literary Terms__. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/terms/ Literary.Terms.html#Apostrophe>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Fergusen, Margaret, Mary Jo Salter, and Jon Stallworthy. "Glossary of Literary Terms." __The Norton Anthology of Poetry__. Ed. James F Knapp. 2005. W. W. Norton. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nap/ Glossary_Versification.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> "The Sun Rising by John Donne." __The Poetry Foundation__. 2008. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173385>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">  <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">  <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> "John Donne - Biography and Works." __Online Literature__. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://www.online-literature.com/donne/>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;"> Academic and Media Technology Services. Dept. home page. Summer 2000. Florida Gulf Coast U. 18 Nov. 2008 <http://itech.fgcu.edu/&/issues/vol3/issue1/ rhetoric.htm>. http://www.online-literature.com/donne/
 * REFERENCES (MLA):**

<http://.britainexpress.com/History/bio/donne.htm>.
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; white-space: nowrap;"> <span style="color: rgb(85,26,139);">