The Sun Rising by John Donne (1633)

Name: The Sun Rising
Author: John Donne

The poem's speaker rebukes the sun as a "busy old fool" and "unruly," an intruder that has no right to call on lovers through their windows and curtains, demanding why love's seasons must follow the sun's motions. He tells the sun, "saucy pedantic wretch," to go instead and scold late schoolboys and sour apprentices, to warn court huntsmen that the king will ride, to summon "country ants" to their harvest labors, insisting that love acknowledges no season, climate, hour, day, or month, since these are merely "the rags of time." The speaker then questions why the sun's beams should be considered so "reverend and strong," boasting he could eclipse and cloud them with a mere wink, but refrains only because he does not want to lose sight of his beloved even that long. He challenges the sun: if her eyes have not blinded his own, the sun should look and then report back tomorrow whether "both th' Indias of spice and mine" remain where the sun left them or now lie here with him instead. He tells the sun to ask after the kings it saw the day before, and it will hear that they all lay "in one bed." The speaker declares that she is "all states," and he is "all princes," and nothing else exists beyond this; princes merely imitate what the two of them are, and compared to their love, all honor is mimicry and all wealth is alchemy. He tells the sun that it is only half as happy as the two lovers, since the world has been contracted into their bed, and since the sun's advancing age calls for ease, its remaining duty—to warm the world—is fully accomplished simply by warming the two of them. He instructs the sun to shine on them alone, and in doing so it will be shining everywhere at once, for their bed has become its center, and the walls of the room its sphere.

By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Love Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Carpe Diem Poetry · 354 words

First lines

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 schoolboys 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.

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The Sun Rising is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Donne, dated 1633 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: John Donne
Date: 1633 CE
Language: English
Genres: Love Poetry, Metaphysical Poetry, Carpe Diem Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
Length: 354 words
Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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Genres

Love Poetry — The poem is a passionate declaration of the supremacy of romantic love over all else, making love its central subject and theme throughout all three stanzas.
Metaphysical Poetry — The poem exemplifies metaphysical poetry through extended conceits comparing the lovers to the center of the universe and employing intellectual wit characteristic of John Donne's style.
Carpe Diem Poetry — The poem celebrates seizing the present moment, prioritizing the lovers' immediate experience and present joy over concerns with time and the natural world's authority.
Lyric Poetry — The poem expresses personal, intimate emotion through musical verse form, giving voice to private feeling and desire in a direct, emotionally resonant manner.