Hyperbole is one of the main figures of Donne’s style of writing and he constructs this poem around a number of hyperbolic claims. In the first stanza, the speaker declares “Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, / Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.” (9-10). These lines illustrate the inadequacy and inferiority of the external world in comparison to the love that the speaker is experiencing. Unlike the physical world around them, their love is not restricted by the boundaries imposed by time. In the last line of the first stanza, “Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.” (10), Donne makes use caesura, which helps to make the tone of the poem more serious. Besides using hyperbole, he also uses different images such as “late schoolboys”, “sour prentices”, “country ants”, “court-huntsmen” and “king” (6-8) in order to illustrate the different aspects of the speaker’s life and society. For example while the “country ants” represent the working people, the “court-huntsmen” and “king” represent the royalties and their way of life. These images are used in order to demonstrate that the speaker and his lover are beyond these earthly, societal concerns.
In the second stanza, the speaker further belittles the sun and undermines its power by claiming that he could cause an eclipse and completely block out the sun if he wished, simply by closing his eyes. However, the speaker expresses that he does not wish to do this, as he would also be blocking out the sight of his beloved. “I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, / But that I would not lose her sight so long; ” (13-14). The speaker demonstrates that the way he thinks and feels is superior to external factors and that he is powerful. Donne continues to employ hyperbole in the following lines to demonstrate the magnitude of their love. The speaker tells the sun to check over the “Indias of spice and mine” (17) and “those Kings” (19) and claims that he would not find them where he had left them but with him in his bed with his lover. By saying that the riches and wealth of India are in bed with him he is speaking of his lover. The speaker claims that all the riches in the world are embodied in his lover. Lines 17 through 20 also illustrate how the speaker feels that their love transcends the confinement of space and the need for material wealth and power.
Finally, in the third stanza the speaker declares that he and his lover are the world.
He compares his lover to “all states” (21) and himself to all “princes” (21), that is, the ruler over all of them. This line supports the idea that he and his lover are beyond true physical forms and that they have the whole world right in their bedroom where they are. He claims that “Princes do but play us; compared to this, / All honor’s mimic, all wealth alchemy.” (23-24). Once again the tone is haughty. The speaker hyperbolically asserts that their love is so great that kings and princess simply copy it, yet they cannot have what they have, so they satisfy themselves with having countries and wealth. The speaker establishes that he and his lover are the world and their bedroom is the center of the earth in lines 26 through 27. He tells the sun “…since thy duties be / To warm the world, that’s done in warming us.” (26-27). Since the sun’s job is to warm the world, and the speaker has already established that he and his lover are the world, the speaker is saying that the sun’s job will now be much easier since it only has to shine on them. By shining on them and their bedroom the sun would be shining on the world. Throughout the poem, the hyperbolic assertions help to convey figuratively the speaker’s feelings.
The tone of the poem also plays an important role in conveying the theme. Throughout the poem there are various shifts in the tone. In the first two stanzas, the tone of the poem is somewhat arrogant and condescending. The speaker begins by harshly ridiculing and belittling the sun. In the second stanza, the speaker goes so far as to undermine the suns power and assert that in fact he is more powerful by saying that he “…could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,”(14). However, in the third stanza, there is a shift in the tone. While it still remains generally haughty and condescending, it also in a way becomes more playful as the speaker sympathizes with the Sun, when he tells it to take it easy in lines 26 onwards. While the speaker’s tone is condescending towards the sun and mocking when he is talking about the social factors and physical matter, his tone is admiring and full of pride when he speaks of his lover. This is conveyed when he says, “ But that I would not lose her sight so long;” (14). This shows that he cannot get enough of his lover and does not want to be separated from her sight for even a moment. This as mentioned previously is said in an exaggerated tone in order to emphasize how much he loves her. The tone does a lot to convey, the sincerity of the speaker and his attitude towards the concept of love.
Throughout the poem the speaker relentlessly emphasizes that their love is so superior that it transcends time, all need for the external world, social relations and wealth; however, at the same time, he is constantly reminding himself of these confinements and restrictions. For example Donne’s sly sympathy for the aging sun hints at the reality of human aging and this undermines the speaker’s optimism and confidence as it brings into the picture the effect of time and how love is not really limitless. The speaker contradicts himself. Also, paradoxically, even though the speaker claims to have love that exists independent of all restriction, he willing confines himself to his lover and their little world.
