The speaker in The Sun Rising is in bed with his beloved. It is dawn, but he does not seem bothered about it.
Having seen the sun at the window, he gets angry and admonishes the sun to leave their room. Instead of waking them up, he commands the sun to wake the schoolboys, apprentices, huntsmen, and farmers.
They are supposed to do their daily tasks, not them. Lovers do not need to follow time; they are free from time.
In the second stanza, the lover asks the sun not to feel proud of his mightiness. He can eclipse the sun with just a wink. Even the eyes of his beloved are more dazzling than the sun.
He proudly tells the sun that their bed is not an ordinary bed. The spice from India and treasure from West Indies are in their bed. The sun will also find the kings there whom he saw the day before.
In the last stanza, the poet declares his beloved is all states, and he is the prince of all states. All the wealth is valueless except for them. The reason is the treasure of the world lies there in the bed.
In the end, the speaker feels a sense of pity for the sun for his age. He realizes that the sun is only doing his job. Therefore, he tells the old sun that he does not need to go anywhere.
His light will be everywhere just by shining them. Their bed is his center, the earth and their walls his sphere.
Analysis
The Tone of the Poem
The poem holds a tone of authority. Similar to Death in the poem “Death Be Not Proud”, the sun is also silent here, and the speaker does not give a chance for the sun to respond.
That suggests his authority over the sun. For instance, the poet commands the sun to the mighty sun;
goe chide Late schoole boyes, and sowre prentices, Call country ants to harvest offices;
(Donne 60)
He does not give any chance to the sun to respond, suggests his superiority in the one-sided conversation. Moreover, the authoritativeness is also seen in his relationship with the lover. When he says she is all states, and I am the prince, we don’t know whether she protests his statement.
Structure of The Poem
The poem is 30 lines poem. It has 3 stanzas, and each stanza has 10 lines. Though Donne does not follow consistently in the length of the lines, he follows a consistent rhyme scheme throughout the poem. The Rhyme scheme of the poem is abbacacdcdee.
The Sun Rising Theme
The poem is a love poem. The theme of love dominates the poem. As a metaphysical poem, it justifies logically the superiority of love between the lovers over the mightiness of the celestial body like the sun. The lover is not ready to leave the side of his lover.
The speaker is in bed with his lover. He is upset, because the morning sun is interrupting their precious time.
Therefore, he tries to argue that they are superior to the sun and the sun should respect their privacy. He gives primarily two reasons: that love surpasses time and second; the world lies with him in the room. We will explore these two points in the following paragraphs.
Love Surpasses Time
In the first stanza, the poet introduces two worlds: one is his private world and the external world. The private world comprises the poet and his beloved, whereas the external world comprises schoolboys, apprentices, huntsmen, and farmers.
One difference between the two worlds is the time. The notion of time seems irrelevant in the former world. On the other hand, time plays an important role in the latter world to operate.
For instance, the huntsmen have to go hunting with the King or the farmers have to collect the harvest to feed the state. They cannot escape from their respective jobs.
Therefore, they need the sun to continue their tasks. Thus, the poet commands the sun that he is supposed to be in the external world, not in the private world, the space of the lovers.
Unlike the outer world, according to the poet, the lovers don’t need to follow the course of time. Irrespective of seasons or climates, his love for his beloved remains the same. The components of time, such as hours, days, and months, keep changing but love remains constant.
Love surpasses time. He thinks being with his ladylove is the most important thing to do for him. Therefore, they are at an elevated stage than others.
The Sun Rising Analysis
The portrayal of His Beloved
The tone of superiority extends to the subsequent stanzas as well. The poet praises his beloved. He asserts his lover’s eyes are brighter than the sun.
He asks the sun if her dazzling eyes have blinded him. Here, we see the reversal of power. The sun is so powerful that it can blind anyone. Instead of revering the sun, the poet reverses the power.
He asserts,
“She’is all States, and all Princes, I,/Nothing else is”
(Donne 61)
She is all the states of the world. Since the entire world is in her, therefore the sun will find the spice from India and mine from West Indies in her. In her, the poet also boasts that the sun will also find the kings and their kingdoms in the bed.
He compares her body to states. The lover’s body represents all the states. So, he also compares the wonder of her body to natural resources.
Her body is a wonderland where he finds the pinnacle of enjoyment. Comparing one’s body to regions is an uncanny metaphysical conceit.
We can read the statement from two perspectives: as an outlook of a colonizer of other states and as an outlook of a feminist. Donne wrote the poem during the reign of James I.
The line “Goe tell Court-huntsmen, that the king will ride” (Donne 60) alludes to James I, who was passionate about “hunting according to theology” (Gardner 60).
This suggests Donne must have written the poem after 1603.
The first decade of the 17th century was a time of exploration, discovery, and colonialism in Europe. Both India and the West Indies were colonies of India.
Therefore, it can be said that The Sun Rising shares the view of a colonizer of the outer world.
A female body can be a space of dominance and a matter of pride for a male lover. Similarly, the possessions of a king can be also the site of the dominance of a king.
Both the male lover and the king become prideful of their possessions. The statement suggests the assertion toward the possession.
She embodies all the states and all the natural resources. The world is with him. Therefore, the sun does not need to go anywhere to give its light. He orders the sun, “This bed thy center is, these walls, thy spheare.” (61)
This is another metaphysical conceit of the poem. The poet compares the bed to the earth. The poet has told her lover is all the states, and no state exists outside those states.
That means she represents the earth. Therefore, the world lies in the bed and he commands the sun to revolve around their bed.
To justify his point, he refers to the prevalent Ptolemaic system of the universe in the first decades of the 17th century. According to the geocentric model, the sun revolves around the earth and the earth is at the center of the solar system.
Based on the geocentric model of the universe, he claims the bed is the center of the solar system and the walls of the room are his orbit. The sun needs to revolve around the bed.
Therefore, he proves his lover is a more extraordinary being than the sun.
If the earth lies in his bed, the poet does not need to go anywhere. In this way, the poet though logic proves that, unlike other aubades, he can stay with his beloved as long as he wants.
For further analysis of the poem, watch the video below on our YouTube channel.
I'm a PhD research scholar & MPhil degree holder from DU, Assam and also a budding blogger. I have cracked CBSE NET (July 2018), NE-SLET (July 2018), and UGC-NTA-NET (June 2019).
The speaker in the poem addresses the sun and demands that it stop casting its light on their room so that he and his lover can remain in bed. His position is that of an assertive lover who believes that his partner is brighter than the sun and that their bed is the center of the universe. Therefore, if the sun has any duty, it should shine on them. By following his words, its radiance will be everywhere.
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What is It’s author’s position?
The speaker in the poem addresses the sun and demands that it stop casting its light on their room so that he and his lover can remain in bed. His position is that of an assertive lover who believes that his partner is brighter than the sun and that their bed is the center of the universe. Therefore, if the sun has any duty, it should shine on them. By following his words, its radiance will be everywhere.
Your notes help me in my exam . Thank you for providing the notes
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Discuss the ‘Sun rising’ as a metaphysical poem. (15 marks)