Critical assessment of the poem 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne

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Mark Heckels

Critical assessment of the poem 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne

In 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne, the poet is awakened by the sun's rays streaming through the curtains into his bedroom, where he lies with his lover. Wishing to prolong the pleasure of lying in, cuddled beside her, he tells the Sun not to disturb the peace of the bedroom. The fact that the Sun's other duties are, amongst others, to wake "late schoolboys" and "call country ants to harvest offices" suggests that the day is already well established, and the poet must soon accept to part from his lover's embrace. But love, he argues, is not ruled by time or the natural order, and is quite independent of them, and therefore he is annoyed that the Sun should meddle in the affairs of lovers and cause this parting:

"Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time."

Indeed, in the second and third stanzas, Donne questions the natural order, and claims that the love between himself and his girl is superior to the Sun's, and all other rulers', power:

"She is all States, and all Princes I, Nothing else is: Princes do but play us; compared to this, All
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honour's mimic, all wealth alchemy."

He can "eclipse and cloud" the Sun's beams "with a wink", and his lover's eyes will blind the Sun, so beautiful are they. In short, he concludes, the lovers' embrace is the real centre of the Sun, and only they two are important in the world:

"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 centre is, these walls, thy sphere."

After the experience of such a great love, everything pales into insignificance for the ...

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