The Sun Rising

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“The Sun Rising”

The 17th century gave birth to a new school of poetry, that was led a by a brilliant poet, John Donne. John Donne’s unconventional style of writing and unorthodox ways of expression have inspired great controversies since then, but at the same time elevated him to a title not given to many ordinary poets. John Donne is amongst few poets who have been named metaphysical poets. “The Sun Rising” is a complex poem, which successfully demonstrates many of the qualities of metaphysical poetry. The poem conveys the theme that love exists independently of time and the physical world. When two people find love together, they often become sufficient in every aspect to one another, and form a world of their own, which has no need of the external world. This idea is expressed in the lines of ‘The Sun
Rising’. Throughout the poem, John Donne makes use of literary features such as hyperbole and tone to develop this theme.

“The Sun Rising” is a lyrical poem that consists of three regular stanzas, each comprising ten lines. The rhyme scheme is the same in all three stanzas and follows a regular ABBACDCDEE pattern. While lines one, five and six are metered in iambic tetrameter, the second line is dimeter and lines three, four and seven through to ten are metered in iambic pentameter. Throughout the poem, the speaker relentlessly tries to convince the sun that the love he shares with his beloved is the world and that it transcends what anyone else possesses. Even though the speaker constantly makes references to the lover, the reader never hears her voice. She is mute. Through the poem, there are various shifts in the tone, but it remains largely arrogant and condescending.

Hyperbole is one of the main figures of Donne’s style ...

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...ggerated 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.

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