POEM: THE SUN RISING
Value/Attitudes
Quote
Analysis
Love
“Love, all like, no season knows nor clime,
nor house, days, months, which are the
rags of time
“She’s all states, and all princes I; nothing
else is,”
“But that I would not lose her sight so
long. If her eyes have not blinded thine”
Completeness of love. Donne’s values are prevalent about putting love above
the natural order. His personal and contextual orders are conflicting within this
quote. He is breaking down the barriers of temporal and space through
metaphysical imagery (metaphysical logic) which is also portrayed through the
use of a conceit. His decentthe rejection/subversion/undermining of the
natural order. Love is atemporal; it is a form of being which cannot be
fragmented into ‘rags’: it is a form of being which is unified, seamless and
perfect.
Reference of geography and topography (“all states”) and is positioning himself
as a ruler or masterful position within the patriacol society.
Addressing all levels of society and the appearance of flattery within the poem.
Exultation of his love through the use of exaggeration
Overall analysis: The Highest love which men and women could know was
union of souls in which the soul counted for much more than the body.
Spirit
uality
“I could eclipse and cloud them with a
winke”
“Thy beames, so reverend and strong”
Reminiscent of the eclipse of the day of crucifixion when Christ died, Donne
essentially assumes the role of God, an extreme conceit
Neo-Platonic: Theories of body and soul are prevalent in this quote.
Death
“Looke, and tomorrow late, tell mee”
The Nature of the
Word/Universe
“Busy old fool, unruly Sun”
Use of irony as ‘unruly sun’ is described as irregular. There is a definite tone of
irritation. Capitalisation on S of the Sun is personify the sun. There is also a use
of hyperbole (exaggeration) and we see the beginning of how the Sun is being
inverted with the significance of love.
