John Donnes The Sun Rising :: Sun Rising Essays

John Donnes The Sun Rising   In his poem, The Sun Rising, Donne immerses the reader into his transmuted universe with an apostrophe to the busy old fool, unruly sunlightbathe that through curtains c all in alls upon him, seizing him from the bliss which no season knows. This bliss, a passionate love, stimulates him to reinvent reality within the contain of his own mind, a wishful thinking from which he does not readily depart, much like a sleepy child clings to the consequences of a dream. In his name and address to the sun, he bids the saucy, pedantic wretch go chide late schoolboys, and sour prentices, resembling a petulant youth imploring for more time to slumber. His reference to the sun as saucy and pedantic evinces his aversion to the hindrance that time poses upon his life. The rude, or saucy morning intrudes upon his rapture, a punctual reminder that time ceases for nothing and for no one.   The speaker then boastfully asserts his power over the suns rays, sta ting that he could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, but that he would not lose her sight so long. This obviously undermines his argument because if it were not for those same beams of light, he would not see his love. Donne surely was aware of the ridiculous nature of this assertion he appears to be attempting to mark the flaws in his argument against the sun, perhaps to emphasize the foolishness of a person in love. He continues this emphasis with his claim that all the riches and nobility the sun has seen all here in one bed lie. His frivolous praise to his love continues he declares that he and his mistress are superior not just now to the ruler of the sky, but all others as well. Princes he sneers do but play us. He declares that all honours mimic of the reverence he and his love share, that all wealth alchemy compared to the splendor of love, and that the sun is but half as happy as this couple.   It is evident that the speaker is aware of his folly his foolish, yet silver-tongued speech is solely for the benefit of his beloved.