The Sun Rising Flashcards
(25 cards)
Poem Title & Author
“The Sun Rising” by John Donne
Central Theme 1
The transcendent power of love that makes the external world (and even time) irrelevant.
Central Theme 2
The insignificance of material wealth and worldly power compared to the lovers’ union.
Central Theme 3
The arrogant confidence and self-absorption of the speaker in his love.
Poetic Form
A lyric poem with three stanzas of ten lines each (decasyllabic).
Rhyme Scheme
ABBACDCDEE in each stanza, contributing to its intricate, song-like quality.
Meter (predominant)
Predominantly iambic tetrameter, though Donne often varies this for emphasis, characteristic of Metaphysical poetry.
Point of View/Speaker
First-person, from the perspective of a lover addressing the rising sun from his bed.
Literary Device: Personification (of the Sun)
The sun is treated as a nosy, intrusive, and foolish old man: “Busy old fool,” “Saucy pedantic wretch.”
Literary Device: Apostrophe
The speaker directly addresses the inanimate sun throughout the poem, treating it as a sentient being.
Literary Device: Hyperbole
Exaggerated claims, such as the lovers’ bed containing “all states, and all princes” or that love has no seasons.
Literary Device: Metaphor (Love’s World)
“She is all states, and all princes, I, / Nothing else is.” Their love is compared to the entire world, encompassing everything.
Initial Tone towards the Sun
Irritated, dismissive, and somewhat arrogant, as the sun’s intrusion disturbs their private world.
Overall Tone (towards the end)
Shifts to triumphant, confident, and ultimately condescending towards the sun, asserting love’s supremacy.
Why does the speaker call the sun “Busy old fool”?
Because the sun is interfering with their private, intimate moment, and the speaker sees its daily duties as pointless compared to love.
Analysis of “Saucy pedantic wretch”
Analysis of “Saucy pedantic wretch”
The speaker’s command: “go chide / Late school-boys and sour prentices”
Tells the sun to bother those who are bound by societal schedules, not lovers who transcend such rules.
Tells the sun to bother those who are bound by societal schedules, not lovers who transcend such rules.
By saying they are merely “play-things” compared to his love, or that the lovers embody all royalty and nations.
Analysis of “She is all states, and all princes, I, / Nothing else is.”
This hyperbolic statement signifies that their love contains all power, wealth, and importance; the rest of the world ceases to matter.
“Indias of spice and mine”
Refers to the exotic, wealthy lands (East and West Indies) that symbolise all worldly riches and discoveries, which the lovers possess within themselves.
The speaker’s challenge to the sun (Stanza 2)
He dares the sun to observe if all the kings and wealth of the world still exist, implying they are now found within his beloved.
Analysis of “this bed thy center is, these walls thy sphere”
The lovers’ bedroom becomes the entire universe, with the sun now orbiting them, reversing traditional cosmology.
Donne’s context (Metaphysical poetry)
A key figure in Metaphysical poetry, known for intellectual wit, complex extended metaphors (conceits), paradoxes, and often unconventional approaches to love and spirituality.
The poem’s enduring message about love’s power
It argues that love is a self-contained, all-encompassing universe that can defy time, external forces, and worldly concerns.
